By GHK Lall- He is alleged to be a gangster. Guyanese didn’t care. Sanctions came, then charges in a flashflood that hasn’t subsided. The people didn’t care. The more that the PPP Govt rail and rush at him, the more the people reach for him. He is Mr. Azruddin Mohamed, leader of the victorious We Invest in Nationhood (WIN). He should be down in the dumpsites of Guyana. But there he is at the pinnacles of Guyanese interest.
Frankly, mister, leader, winner and Azruddin Mohamed should not go together, but Guyanese think otherwise, see a rescuer. Such are the developments that mystify, which leave many to marvel at the phenomenon called Mohamed II.
My recommendation offered free of charge to the PPP of Ali and Anil (Bharrat is under the weather, so he is spared today), and no frills attached, is that they rethink and recalibrate. Instead of their strategy sending him north, they are heading south. It is called the boomerang effect, the law of intangibles, more accurately -the inconceivable.
When the poor and helpless in this country have a problem that hurts, will not go away, they don’t appeal to Mohamed Irfaan Ali. They call Azruddin Mohamed. Go! Figure that one out. The PPP can hide every statistic (census), hide every report (a multi fatality one), hide information that may make the PNC look bad (oil contract). But to what avail?
For there is that other statistic, the one that doesn’t lie, the one that cannot be concealed. When the weak and vulnerable in this town, or that hood, or that remote community, have a crisis on their hands, they don’t call the man of the law. They put their trust in the man Mohamed, against whose name every lawlessness had been attached. Well, almost everyone that comes to mind. The PPP of Mohamed Irfaan and Mohabir Anil should return to their drawing board. This is not working; it is backfiring.
The PPP Govt, through the cooperative auspices of the office of the Speaker of the National Assembly, has worked cleverly to delay Mr. Mohamed what he has earned, what the people put in his hands, that first rung up the ladder -Leader of the Opposition. The ultimate objective is to deny him, and the will of the people. The people included the PNC people; encircled some PPP people from the remote regions; and then some more PPP people -those who stayed home, didn’t come out for fear of retaliation.
If from September to Leader of the Opposition, then what does the future five Septembers hold from now? It has been termed a seismic shift. To that I would add an unprecedented local miracle, a Guyana sandstorm. I humbly suggest to Excellency Ali that he consults with his Gulf State and Sahara friends to acquaint him with the power of a sandstorm, and how unpredictable and uncontrollable one can be. Think and rethink, Dr PPP and Mr. PPP.
Mohamed has already experienced a marvel. Don’t make him into a prolonged miracle. With six seats as parliamentary advantage, the ruling party shouldn’t fear anyone. With the WIN man insisting about what he has in mind for the Exxon oil contract, the Americans decided it was time to get into the Guyana political games. Why take the risk of Opposition Leader in 2025, and Exxon targeted, and leave 2030 to chance? Mr. Mohamed is not even the Opposition Leader, and Guyanese decided then that he will be their ombudsman.
An alleged badman seen as a genuine ombudsman. Ye Gods! Extradition standing in the way of Leader of the Opposition, and Guyanese still hold Mohamed as a winner, a salvager, their ombudsman. A greater understanding arrives as to why, aside from that Exxon slip, that the PPP and Exxon want him out of here. He is bad for business. He is bad for politics. Which means that he is likely good, if not very good, for local economics, civics. The PPP’s hysteria is obvious. Democracy talked through one nostril; a devastating blow breathed through the other. Mr. Nandlall’s law looks rather lackluster, probably permanently lame.
Azruddin Mohamed worked at it, then with PPP help, transformed into a miracle worker. Now the PPP seeks to go one further and make him into a modern Guyanese marvel. A political one. Extradited or not, he or his party could still end up as that sentimental vote for a favorite and favored son come 2030. The PPP needs to rethink, then reengineer, its strategies and its techniques. Make a monster out of a homemade marvel, and self-inflicted madness triumphs.
