Last Updated on Sunday, 18 October 2026, 19:33 by Written By Denis Chabrol
by GHK Lall
‘I could have been a dead man.’ “I coudda a been a contender. I could’ve been somebody instead of a bum.’ The first speaker is Mr. Azruddin Mohamed, Guyana’s Opp Leader on his release from jail. The second and third sentences are from blockbuster cinema, On the Waterfront, with Marlon Brando as the anguished character. What relationship could the two have with each other?
Mr. Mohamed riding the crest of the WIN arc has been handed every opportunity to be somebody. Already he is Guyana’s Leader of the Opposition, which ranks him in the Top 10 of Guyana’s citizenry. It’s my estimation, and reasoned on this basis: if this country’s Pres Ali is the First Citizen and Guyana’s Prime Minister Phillips is the 1st Vice President (or 2nd Citizen), then Guyana’s Leader of the Opposition, Mohamed, cannot rank as its 21st or 22nd citizen. Therefore, he has an obligation. To his family. To his supporters. To the wider Guyana constituency. To comport himself in a manner becoming and corresponding to his new title and all the responsibilities associated with it.
With Mr. Mohamed reminiscing rather ruefully that ‘I could have been a dead man’ and with real bullet holes as supporting evidence, he has to be more circumspect. Intelligence gathering shouldn’t be at the top of his list of duties. If he puts himself in harm’s way, and becomes a dead man, then what value has he bestowed on Guyana, what legacy does he leave for posterity? The sooner that he learns that the role of Opp Leader is not a one-man show, or a family affair, or a highlight reel instalment, the better he serves his party and this country. It is no accident that the job of Opp Leader is given such prominent mention in the Constitution of Guyana. On realizing that, the first rays of wisdom should penetrate as to the magnitude of the role. Cheddi Jagan held it. Desmond Hoyte held it. Robert Corbin did. So did Bharrat Jagdeo. The role of Guyana’s Leader of the Opposition is neither errand boy nor newspaper boy. It is of a man among men.
In the present roiling, piercing environment, Mr. Mohamed would be an also ran, a runner-up, if he has failed to grasp how the PPP Govt and its agents wait in ambush to dislodge or destroy those who make all of them look emaciated and emasculated. Start at the top and come down from there. At every level, the faces of PPP powers and the PPP snipers are twisted in rage, and willing to manufacture and participate in any manner of outrage. To level those they hold as enemies. To destroy those, they hold as pests and parasites, fitting company in the crowd of undesirables.
Why should Azruddin Mohamed who more than anyone in this country not know how the PPP can be? It was done before, and a two-word blanket was found: national security. ‘I could have been dead.’ Damn right, Mr. Mohamed. He had better learn a few things quickly; or he will not have enough time to learn anything. The PPP is not into play. Not when the local power formula is under stress. The seven-seat majority doesn’t make it comfortable. It makes the PPP commanding and controlling. Run this through the mind: a boxer has a seven-inch reach advantage, and yet he is fearful of going into the ring. There was parliament. Closed. It took some wrestling by white friends to take a crowbar and dig it open.
Mr. Mohamed’s prison stay, his restricted circumstances, his sixth sense, should all make him into a better Opp Leader. The PPP is watching. The PPP isn’t letting up. The PPP holds all the cards. Azruddin Mohamed either grows into the role of Opp Leader, or he goes down. He has a merciful and benevolent PPP Govt waiting to help him along the way. I could have been dead. It’s time that something sinks in his head.
