Dear Editor,
Regarding yesterday’s breaking news caption,”Azruddin Mohamed elected Leader of Opposition, calls for co-operation in Parliament,” Monday, January 26, 2026, will go down in annals of Guyana’s contemporary political history as a red-letter day for what it portends to offer Guyanese of all races: yet another opportunity to break the iron shackles of decades-long PPP vs PNC divisive, race-based politics, with Azruddin Mohamed’s ascension to the position of Opposition Leader. Existing US sanctions and indictments, notwithstanding, 38-year-old Azruddin Mohamed dared to believe he was Guyana’s little engine that could, and by God, he did it.
Back in August 1999, I recall another relatively young 35-year-old, Bharrat Jagdeo, emerged as the PPPs newest and youngest face on leadership level when he succeeded Janet Jagan as President of Guyana. Born January 23, 1964, Jagdeo was not tainted by the racial violence of that year, which I lived through with screaming and fires etched in my mind, making him an ideal candidate to break the shackles of race-based politics. As a New York-based Guyanese, I admittedly was open to him as I was to Cheddi Jagan in 1992. Unfortunately, Cheddi passed prematurely in March 1997, while Bharrat flattered to deceive.
In retrospect, after he led the PPP to victory in the March 2001 elections, he gave an inspiring inauguration speech that offered hope to both the politically hostile and volatile Opposition PNC, and all anxious Guyanese. “Election 2001 is past,” he noted, as he pivoted to a forward-looking vision, “I want to assure my political opponents in those elections we were not enemies. As President, I will strive my utmost to include everyone in the process to achieve common goals for the whole nation, and for making life better for all Guyana.”
“For too long – over generations, in fact – the bitter perception has developed that party connection and consideration come first in administering of this country. I will try hard, I promise you, to win the confidence of my opponents that this will not be so in my governance of Guyana.”
Editor, I leave it to Guyanese at home and abroad to digest those encouraging words, even in contextual application to today’s political reality, and then become the judges of what played out under the Jagdeo-led PPP after the Jagans passed on. I also want to remind Jagdeo that the emergence of Azruddin Mohamed as the Opposition Leader in Guyana’s National Assembly is the indirect result of the PPPs failure to frontally address a smorgasbord of corruption that not only permeated government operations, but seeped deeply into the veins of society, eroding public trust, distorting the democratic process, stealing and squandering financial and natural resources that should have benefited social service development in a greater way.
Jagdeo must also remember, especially after coming out of retirement, that “government corruption”, to cite Google AI, “fosters cronyism, increases economic inequality, and often turns bribery into a routine, everyday transaction for citizens interacting with authorities. This ‘systemic’ corruption normalizes unethical behaviour, weakens the rule of law, and can lead to a collapse in the legitimacy of governing institutions.”
To Guyanese not in-the-know, Azruddin and Nazar Mohamed (son and father duo) were PPP supporters up until the OFAC sanctions in June 2024. Nazar even captured a seat on a PPP ticket in the LGE Eccles/Ramsburg constituency elections of June 12, 2023. This is why sudden distancing of the Jagdeo-led PPP from the Mohameds, in the eyes of many, has been so eerily reminiscent of the Jagdeo-led government distancing itself from Roger Khan, who took out newspaper ads saying he saved the PPP government from collapsing while he was wanted in the United States for drug smuggling. Ironically, the US received no government-to-government help back then, but today, the PPP is desperate to extradite the Mohameds.
Whatever plays out regarding the Mohameds, via the court system in Guyana and on the level of the Caribbean Court of Justice, the U.S authorities must know that the Mohameds did not operate in a vacuum in Guyana. In fact, OFAC was on the money when it said the Mohameds were facilitated by government officials, and based on revelations from Azruddin, the facilitation appeared to have reached the highest level.
In dealing with Opposition Leader Mohamed, going forward, Bharrat Jagdeo needs to revisit his March 2001 inauguration speech and Irfaan Ali needs to review his past dealings with Azruddin, because this about-face posture and distancing from the Mohameds is not fooling Guyanese. In fact, it has been a pleasant surprise to read so many Guyanese who have become sympathetic towards the Mohameds, because Guyanese know there are political elements in the PPP who are no better than the Mohameds. Guyana is one hot mess.
We can only hope OFAC would clean its lenses and see the PPP government for what it is since former PPP executive and House Speaker Ralph Ramkarran, in 2012, described the Jagdeo government as being fraught with ‘pervasive corruption’. OFAC should also take a hard look at the Vice Media interview available on YouTube and see nothing has changed fourteen years later.