Alliance For Change leader Raphael Trotman yesterday issued a public challenge to President Bharrat Jagdeo to debate him on the involvement of drug lords in political parties, but the Office of the President says that the President “does not debate political aspirants such as those residing in the AFC”.
The AFC leader threw out the challenge during a press conference saying that it is time Jagdeo “puts up or shut up”, and announced that he has tentatively secured City Hall as the venue for the public debate at 6 pm on July 16 (next Thursday).
Registering his disgust with the repeated accusations made by the President about the party and contributions it received, Trotman said he is ready to debate Jagdeo on the infiltration of drug lords in political parties and the political process in the country.
Trotman said that the AFC knows where its funds came from for the last campaign and how the party continues to survive, and he continued, it also knows about “the involvement of Roger Khan cause he had said what he did for the government”.
But contacted yesterday for a response to the challenge by the AFC leader, Press and Publicity Officer at OP, Kwame McCoy said the President would not debate Trotman, adding that if Jagdeo were inclined to debate anyone it would have to be one of “his equals”.
McCoy was keen to point out that the response was “an initial one”, but he stated that the AFC needs to be clear on the issues the President raised. He said also that the President is not afraid to debate his critics saying that a debate has many formats.
“We have debated and defended our positions on numerous issues before and are therefore not afraid to debate people,” he added.
In the event of the President failing to show for the debate next Thursday the AFC will move to the courts, according to Trotman. He said that AFC lawyers are currently examining the issue, noting that the party would prefer to have debate before instituting legal proceedings given that it would then have to adhere to the principle of sub judice (under judgment).
Disappointed
At its press conference yesterday the party referred to the statements made by the President as baseless and noted that it is very disappointed in the Head of State. It said that Jagdeo accused the AFC falsely while failing to disclose to the nation the massive government corruption “as evident by the numerous Auditor General and international reports”.
The party said Jagdeo needs to clean his own house before throwing stones at others, adding that the Roger Khan saga has seen his government named as part of the drug system. Also, the party stated, no major drug lord has been prosecuted in Guyana.
The AFC said that though drug convicts have confessed in the US, the Police Commissioner and the Minister of Home Affairs still have to wait on information sharing before commencing an investigation, adding that “these same individuals operated for many years in Guyana prior to their arrest by the US authorities and were seen in the presence of “senior officials”.
“The President must come clean on what he knows about those drug lords and his government’s involvement. The President up to now has failed to answer queries about the hundreds of citizens who were killed by phantom gangs and for the many who have been tortured by ranks of the joint forces”, the party said in a statement.
Additionally, the AFC questioned what the government has to hide with respect to the National Drug Policy asking why it has been shelved and why no implementation plans are evident.
The party opined that the country may see marked improvements if the President spends as much energy on it as he is expending on the AFC.
Character attacks
Meanwhile, AFC Chair-man Khemraj Ramjattan said he is disturbed by the statements of the president as it relates to him selling two vehicles he had purchased with duty-free concessions. He said that Jagdeo is out to tarnish his image.
Ramjattan explained that he sold the vehicles after the stipulated timeframe had elapsed and therefore did nothing unethical. He said that in one instance, the President even encouraged him to sell to a PPP party member while he [Ramjattan] was still a serving member of the PPP.