General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) and veteran trade unionist Lincoln Lewis warned that Guyana is entering “dangerous waters,” arguing that the treatment of Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed raises broader questions about political freedom, state power and the rule of law.
In an August 29 opinion piece titled “Silence Today Will Leave No One Safe Tomorrow,” Lewis argues that the issue is no longer simply about one politician or one opposition party, but about the boundaries of state power and the willingness of citizens and institutions to defend democratic principles when doing so becomes politically uncomfortable.
His warning came as a series of encounters between Mohamed and the security authorities was intensifying.
The first major episode occurred in August, when Mohamed’s go-fast boat was intercepted by police and Coast Guard ranks at Friendship on the Demerara River. Authorities said the vessel had been travelling at high speed, failed to stop when signalled and was pursued to a wharf. Police also reported seeing a bag thrown into the river, although its contents and who allegedly threw it remained undetermined.
The vessel was subsequently detained. The Maritime Administration Department said its records showed that the boat was unlicensed and that Mohamed was not licensed to operate it. Mohamed and other opposition figures disputed aspects of the police account and were subsequently released on bail.
Lewis sees the episode as part of a larger political danger.
“What happened last week to Mohamed and team is tantamount to an intensification of the abuse of political office by using the police force-which is supposed to be an independent arm of the State- to target opponents.”
That confrontation was followed by an even more explosive incident on September 3.
Police intercepted vehicles near President Irfaan Ali’s private residence at Leonora after reports of suspected unauthorised drone activity. Mohamed was among those detained. Police said a DJI drone and four cellular phones were found in the vehicle in which he was travelling. Mohamed denied owning or operating the drone, while technician Dwayne Ross reportedly said the drone belonged to him. A second drone was later reportedly found at Ross’s residence.
Mohamed was initially released on self-bail but was detained again after returning to the area and broadcasting live on Facebook. He was subsequently released.
On September 4, Chief Magistrate Judy Latchman declined to revoke Mohamed’s bail after prosecutors raised the matter during his extradition proceedings. The court was told that police were examining seized phones and trying to determine whether surveillance had occurred or what may have been intended, but prosecutors did not present evidence establishing that Mohamed had committed an offence. Latchman stressed that allegations alone could not justify interfering with his liberty.
Then came another development: Mohamed’s principal Team Mohamed Facebook page, with more than 500,000 followers, was deleted while his phones remained in police custody, according to his lawyer. His legal team has demanded the return of his seized property and questioned how the page disappeared. Police have not publicly said they were responsible for the deletion.
It is against this unfolding backdrop that Lewis’s central argument acquires its force: what happens to a democracy when citizens become comfortable with the erosion of another person’s rights because they dislike the person being targeted?
“If we stay silent when wrong is inflicted on another because it does not concern us, we give assent to wrongs being committed against us.”
Lewis argues that political allegiance cannot determine whether something is right or wrong.
“We must accept that right is right and wrong is wrong, regardless of who benefits or who is affected.”
He is particularly concerned about the role of the police, reminding the Force that its obligation is to the entire country.
“The police force must remember to whom it is in service: all the people of Guyana.”
For Lewis, the deeper danger is not simply what happens to Mohamed. It is what society becomes when extraordinary measures against political opponents gradually become ordinary.
He warns that the police themselves are part of the society they serve.
“The police men and women need not forget when they take off their uniforms, they blend into civil society and are also from the communities.”
Lewis invokes Guyana’s violent 2002–2006 period as a warning of what can happen when institutions lose public trust and political divisions deepen.
He argues that the country’s growing oil wealth cannot conceal what he describes as worsening political divisions, ethnic tensions, declining standards and the marginalisation of sections of society.
Against the national motto—“One People, One Nation, One Destiny”—he poses a fundamental question: can those words survive if citizens defend principles only when their own side is affected?
His final appeal is directed at members of the Police Force:
“Be bold enough to say to this regime: ‘I cannot do it. It is not right. It violates the principles under which the Force operates.’”
For Lewis, democracy ultimately rests not only on laws and institutions, but on conscience—the willingness to object when power crosses a line, even when the person on the receiving end is unpopular.
His warning is stark:
“If we turn a blind eye or remain silent it is only a matter of time before that wrong is extended to us.”
In that sense, Lewis is arguing that the real test of freedom is not whether the powerful can speak, but whether ordinary citizens are willing to speak before silence becomes the price of safety.
