Demerara Waves Online News- Guyana Riding on the Crest of Truth
Last Updated on Friday, 3 January 2025, 18:17 by Denis Chabrol
Mr Azruddin Mohamed
Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Nigel Hughes on Friday said he was not worried that his party was hurting its chances at this year’s general and regional elections by supporting United States-sanctioned businessman, Azruddin Mohamed’s likely participation in the polls.
He reiterated that any citizen who wants to enter the political fray should be allowed and encouraged to do so and allow Guyanese to choose. “Whether or not the person is sanctioned, the person has a criminal record or what have you, that’s a matter for the electorate. That’s not a matter for me. It’s not a matter for the Alliance For Change,” he told a news conference.
General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Bharrat Jagdeo, who is also Guyana’s 2nd Vice President faced a backlash overnight Thursday for saying that “this year I promise to be even worse” in harshly criticising his opponents such as Kaieteur News publisher, Glenn Lall. While Mr Mohamed has not yet openly declared his intention to contest the general and regional elections, Mr Jagdeo said declarants would come under sharp scrutiny by the PPP. “I hope people would be ready to face tough questions and that they would not go off crying that they’re being targeted by those questions; they wouldn’t become crybabies or cry that they’re victims,” he said.
Mr Hughes said the AFC was supporting the principle of the right to contest the 2025 polls. “We’re not supporting Mr Mohammed but we’re certainly supporting if Mr Mohamed wants to go into politics, he should be free to do so. We believe the wider the choices the Guyanese people have, the better it is for them. For too long, we’ve had very limited choices,” he said.
Mr Mohamed and his father Nazar Mohamed were last year sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for allegedly evading about US$50 million in taxes due to Guyana for gold sales. President Irfaan Ali recently said the U.S. has not provided requested information that could be used to aid local investigators.
Also sanctioned was former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mae Thomas. Up to recently, she was still receiving half salary, having been sent on leave from her position.
As PPP-Civic candidate for the 2020 general elections, Dr Irfaan Ali had been facing 19 fraud charges that were dropped by the State only after he became President.
For several months now, Mr Azruddin has been engaging in various charitable activities in the fields of education, small business, and health and housing. In recent months, he has been speaking out on social media about a number of challenges, including power outages, being faced Guyanese.
Delivering his New Year’s message on Facebook, Mr Mohamed said “together we can make 2025 a year of transformation, a year where we unlock the full potential of ourselves which would extend to our beloved country.”