Hands off Terrence Campbell- AFC, APNU tell PPP

Last Updated on Wednesday, 12 February 2025, 21:31 by Writer

The Alliance For Change (AFC) on Tuesday urged the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) to back off from attacking Dr Terrence Campbell who has emerged as a fierce critic of the administration.

“The latest assault on Dr. Terrence Campbell, a member of the Investment Committee of the Natural Resource Fund, is yet another chapter in the PPP/C’s long and sordid history of intimidation and we stand with the PNC and APNU in condemning his vilification and attempts to silence him,” the AFC said in a statement.

The city businessman, who had briefly dabbled in politics before through A New and United Guyana (ANUG) and is now part of the Natural Resources Fund (NRF) mechanism, has been in the spotlight in recent months ever since he openly called for details on how Guyana’s oil revenues would be spent before billions of dollars are transferred to the consolidated fund. He also recently filed a complaint with the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) about a commercial land sale by the Central Housing and Planning Authority and the purchase of a property in New York by one Sherwyn Greaves.

Dr Campbell had also drawn intense criticism from PPP General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo for saying that he has a “genetic disposition to eating his cake and having it” after the latter interpreted that to mean his East Indian ancestry. In more recent times, Mr Jagdeo has accused Dr Campbell of evading taxes, an accusation that the businessman has denied on a number of occasions.

Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton said the opposition stands fully in defense and support of Dr Campbell as the PPP regime attempts to intimidate and victimise him in pursuit of, what he claims, their undemocratic objective of total control and domination of the Guyanese society.

“We believe and know that Mr. Campbell is doing what he is obligated to do as a member of the NRF Investment Committee and representing the people’s interest.

We, therefore, applaud Mr. Campbell’s resolve and fearlessness. Let it be known that attacking him amounts to attacking the Opposition and all the honest and law abiding Guyanese people. We, therefore, call for good sense to prevail to avoid the damaging consequences,” said Mr Norton who is leader of the People’s National Congress Reform and APNU Chairman.

The AFC, in response, Tuesday vowed that it “will not yield” to the PPPC’s brazen attempts to suffocate dissent, corrupt Guyana’s democracy, and rob Guyanese of their rightful prosperity. “It is a battle between those who seek to plunder and those who dare to defend the nation’s wealth. And let there be no doubt—the Alliance For Change (AFC) will not yield,” that party said.

According to the AFC, Dr Campbell was coming under verbal attacks because he was courageously speaking out to protect Guyana’s oil wealth from being siphoned away into the abyss of corruption that has become the hallmark of this administration and urging that the people’s resources are invested responsibly rather than being used as the private purse of the Irfaan Ali-Bharrat Jagdeo regime.

“For this, Jagdeo has launched an unrelenting attack upon him, attempting to discredit, threaten, and silence him,” the AFC which is in a parliamentary coalition with APNU, added. “Dr. Campbell stands in the way of the PPP/C’s unchecked greed, and so they seek to destroy him. But let it be known—we stand with him. We stand with all who fight for justice, for accountability, for a Guyana free from the clutches of despotic rule,” the AFC also said.

The AFC also came to the defence of its leader, Nigel Hughes, who has questioned a number of commercial Ogle land sales to perceived PPP associates. “As the scandal over the 35 acres of prime state land in Ogle deepens, the PPP/C, like a wounded beast, lashes out in desperation, seeking to divert public attention. Jagdeo shamelessly attempts to muddy the waters by dragging Nigel Hughes into the fray, hurling accusations to mask his own government’s brazen acts of cronyism,” the AFC said.

The PPP claims that Mr Hughes personally acquired 75 acres of State lands on the west bank of the Essequibo River and that, as a lawyer, director and company secretary for a Trinidadian company, he was aware of the purchase of 26 acres of land in the Ogle area at GY$30 million per acre as well as 10 additional acres at GY$10 million per acre at Earl’s Court to build a luxury apartment complex..

In his defence, Mr Hughes said the 75 acres of land was acquired from a private leaseholder, Simon Munroe, not the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, for GY$2 million but were never transferred to him despite his best efforts to get a GLSC update. Guyana government sources said there was no trace of a Simon Munroe in GLSC’s records. On the other hand, Mr Hughes said Mr Simon informed him that he had never obtained the lease (document). Sources said Mr Munroe’s lease, if it existed, should have been stamped “transferred” after affidavits from both sides were supposedly submitted to the Commission.

Concerning the commercial land sales and his role, Mr Hughes has declined to comment.

He has since called for a comprehensive investigation into all land sales, including his, to address all allegations.

The AFC said the Irfaan Ali-Jagdeo government, backed into a corner by their own misdeeds, have resorted to their oldest trick—distraction, deception and threats—but no volume of propaganda, no orchestrated attacks, and no manufactured distractions would erase the truth.

“The long, sordid shadow of PPP/C corruption stretches from the murky oil deals to the taxpayer-funded extravagances, from the illegal land transfers to the brazen acts of electoral manipulation. Their modus operandi is clear: control, suppress, and loot. They have no shame, no honour, no limits,” the AFC said.

The PPPC has often accused the APNU+AFC of conspiring in an attempt to rig the March 2020 elections through the declaration of bogus results for Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica). In return, APNU+AFC has cited missing documents from several ballot boxes on the East Coast Demerara as evidence of election rigging.

The Representation of the People Act provides for only counted and rejected ballots to be placed in ballot boxes.