NRF member lodges complaint against Jagdeo to ERC

Last Updated on Tuesday, 17 December 2024, 21:28 by Writer

City businessman and Natural Resources Fund (NRF) Investment Committee member, Dr Terrence Campbell on Tuesday lodged a formal complaint with the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) against Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo for allegedly exciting racial hostility by interpreting his words to mean an attack on East Indians.

At the centre of the complaint is the city businessman’s contention in a letter to the privately-owned Kaieteur News that “The VP has a genetic predisposition to eating his cake and having it” because “As President he was “Champion” of the Earth, today he is a Champion of Fossil Fuels. As Opposition Leader he was Champion of Renegotiation, today he is Champion of Contract Sanctity.”

Dr Campbell told Demerara Waves Online News that “this is a first step for justice” because if the ERC fails to act then he would complain to the Guyana Police Force, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights or possibly take civil legal action. “After much prayer and consideration, I reached the conclusion that I could allow Jagdeo to paint me with a racist brush and get away with it. I was seriously considering a ‘wait and see’ attitude when I received a call expressing serious concern. A luta continua,” he said.

Dr Campbell told the ERC that Mr Jagdeo “willfully” excited hostility and ill will against him in violation of the Racial Hostility Act (2002) Section 2 (1) and the Section 18 (1) (e) of the Cybercrime Act (2018) because he stated in his December 12, 2024, news conference that “I think more broadly he is talking about Indo-Guyanese.”

Mr Jagdeo’s People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is historically supported by mostly Indo-Guyanese and the People’s National Congress Reform-led opposition by mainly Afro-Guyanese.

Dr Campbell, who is associated with a number of major businesses with international connections, said Mr Jagdeo’s statement subsequently led to his receipt of abuse and economic threats. “As a businessman who has long cultivated relationships with top-tier international companies, the commentary has the potential to create economic harm.” He also said that a troubling concern was the fact that his family members of Indian descent, and friends, were inundated with screenshots of public commentary on his supposed racism.

Dr Campbell on Tuesday submitted evidence from social media and highlighted that the abuse only started after Mr Jagdeo’s news conference.

He told the ERC that the most important reason for filing his complaint was the potential for Mr Jagdeo’s utterance to have serious consequences for next year’s general and regional elections. “Last, perhaps most important, and the reason for my complaint, is the fear that, left unrestrained, Mr. Jagdeo will continue on this path of race baiting. As Guyana approaches election season, the end result may well be racial hostilities,” he said.

Defending his statement, Dr Campbell told the ERC that his criticism of Mr Jagdeo could not be extended to everyone of a particular ethnic group. “Commissioners, my statement was based on my observation of Mr. Jagdeo for decades. It was a statement made about him, personally. Mr. Jagdeo isa  national political figure, and I am sure it was not the first time that he was the beneficiary of criticism describing him as “duplicitous”. I find it shocking and reprehensible that he extended this criticism to all Guyanese of Indian descent,” the businessman NRF member said.

Dr Campbell said he could not believe and would not accept, that Mr. Jagdeo’s words amounted to an emotional outburst. Describing Mr. Jagdeo as “an experienced, crafty politician”, he argued that “the goal was to neutralize my concerns about the operations of the Natural Resource Fund with accusations of racism.”

Dr Campbell recently publicly criticised the NRF’s transfer of billions of dollars in oil revenues to the Consolidated Fund without first submitting a broad list of projects and programmes that the monies would be spent on. Mr Jagdeo, however, said that that was not necessary and that public accountability and transparency rests with the National Assembly.