Local businessman Terrence Campbell has ended his brief foray into politics, citing the “polarization” created by the no confidence motion against the government and concerns about whether his partners in new political party A New United Guyana (ANUG) are qualified to be elected to the National Assembly.
Campbell made the announcement yesterday in a Facebook post, where he also announced that he has resigned from civic group RISE Guyana, which has been lobbying for constitutional reform.
“Today a knife was stuck into my back by my own people,” Campbell began the post.
Taking the position that APNU+AFC coalition doesn’t stand a chance in a head to head contest with the PPP at this time, Campbell explained that his entry into politics was purely to deny the latter a majority at the next polls and to push for constitutional reform.
However, he said over the last week the “polarization” in Guyana made him realize that now isn’t the time for “the kind of healing, centrist politics I envisaged.” As a result, he said he had resigned from RISE Guyana last Thursday and early yesterday morning he had sent a message to his friends at ANUG.
He shared an “edited” version of the message, in which he noted that the recent vote by Charrandass Persaud on the no-confidence vote against the government had “polarized Guyana” and “poisoned our soil.”
“On the one hand, supporters of the Coalition believe the government has been felled by a corrupt bloodless coup totally in sync with their view of the PPP under its current leadership. On the other hand, PPP supporters see the Coalition’s refusal to resign as a reminder of the vote-rigging unlawful nature of the PNC. Then there are independent observers who believe the Coalition should resign based on convention but fail to recognize that there is no precedent for a similar vote by an Assembly made up of 40% disqualified members,” he said.
Campbell added that in order for a new independent party to be successful in this scenario, it would need to compete under an umbrella with groups that broadly share its philosophical approach since time is short and resources are limited.
Dual citizenship
Meanwhile, Campbell said it has been suggested by one observer that ANUG’s Steering Committee “probably has three dual citizens.”
The Steering Committee includes former House Speaker Ralph Ramkarran, former minister under the PPP/C administration Henry Jeffrey and attorney Timothy Jonas.
“It is no secret that this is a matter of significant importance to me. I view the dual citizens in the Assembly as a flagrant violation of our Constitution,” he wrote. “All of the above has caused me considerable angst and I fail to see how I would be able to add value to the efforts of ANUG in the days ahead. A good reading of the climate suggests that this is neither the time nor the place for me to sow my seeds,” he added.
Article 155 of Guyana’s constitution disqualifies from sitting in the National Assembly any person who by virtue of his or her own act is under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state.
This provision is currently central to a case filed against Persaud over his vote in favour of the no-confidence motion against the government. It is being argued that Persaud by acknowledging his Canadian citizenship disqualified himself from sitting in the assembly and rendered his vote null.
In a statement issued in response to Campbell yesterday, ANUG acknowledged an email from him indicating that he did not feel that he could add value to its efforts in the days ahead. It said his reason appeared to be the charged political situation arising from the no-confidence motion.
“It is clear that Terrence has come under severe pressure because of his leading role in establishing ANUG. Some of us have also come under pressure from official sources very recently, as a consequence of association with ANUG, and in the past. We have endured and survived and expect to continue to do so in the future. We intend to build our movement to offer the Guyanese people an entirely different and creative political choice that will lead to a new and united Guyana,” the party, which wished Campbell well, said.
Addressing the allegation that three members of its Steering Committee have dual citizenship, the party said that it would not dignify the “worthless accusation, based on hearsay evidence,” with a response.
“But we want to emphasize that being a dual citizen is not a crime. There are thousands of dual citizens living and working in Guyana and some of them are our supporters. We welcome them,” it added.
ANUG explained that the issue of dual citizens as members of the National Assembly came up for discussion at a meeting last Friday that was not attended by Campbell. “We confirmed that the rule prohibiting dual citizens from membership of the National Assembly is an anachronism, is not enforced by our political parties and we would advocate its abolition. But we also acknowledged that in the meantime we will observe the law and will not include any dual citizens on our list of candidates, as the three political parties represented in the National Assembly have always done,” it noted.
Misguided
Campbell’s post also followed the posting by a Facebook Group of an image which called on coalition supporters to enact a “massive economic boycott of companies owned by biased media advertisers and greedy, complicit businessmen.”
Campbell was identified in the image as was Stabroek News, the Guyana Times and businessman Gerry Gouveia. The post was subsequently removed.
“It is interesting that Rickford Burke asked where I was during the PPP years and about my party. I said to him “stay tuned” since I would have been taking a pass on this period of dirty politics in Guyana and would have been making the announcement in a matter of hours. To my surprise I received several messages with the pic below. I would like OneVoice Canwin to know that I serve a mighty God, a God that is able! That HE owns my business and only HE can topple it!” he wrote.
“The campaign strategy of the Coalition is seriously misguided. It has been hijacked by dual citizens,” he further said, while noting that he had helped some of those very persons in the past.
Campbell also noted that he has supported the People’s National Congress Reform and its coalition partners, whether in the form of APNU or APNU+AFC.
“I have supported the PNC/APNU/APNU-AFC in every general election since I started voting. “Carl Greenidge, Raphael Trotman, Cathy Hughes, Rupert [Roopnaraine] and Lance Carberry can attest to this. This support ran into millions of dollars,” he wrote.
He also said that he donates over $1 million a month to charitable causes.
“After a sordid incident between an Afro-Guyanese businessman and boys at a Georgetown school I took over a feeding program there almost a decade ago. I have also supported the Step By Step School for autistic children with monthly contributions for years. I have never publicized this as the God, the powerful God that I serve knows this,” Campbell also said.
