Dear Editor,
The withdrawal by Mr. Terrence Campbell from ANUG is now well known. An email received from Terrence on the morning of January 7 indicated that he did not feel that he could add value to our efforts in the days ahead. He has shared this email together with his reasons for this action with social media and it has appeared in the print media, and the public will no doubt draw their own conclusions. Insofar as Terrence references ‘a knife’ being stuck in his back by his ‘own people’, he has my sympathy. Politics is ugly and dangerous. Other members of ANUG have also come under pressure both very recently and in the past. The fear of victimization is not unfounded; it is very real and very immediate, but we have endured and I hope we will continue to endure. We intend to continue to build our movement to offer the Guyanese people an entirely different and creative political choice that rejects race politics and engenders a new and united Guyana.
The purpose of this letter is to respond to a specific allegation made by Terrence that three of the founding members of ANUG have dual citizenship. ANUG has already issued a statement pointing out that, like most hearsay conclusions drawn without proper inquiry, Terrence’s allegation is inaccurate. To that statement I wish to add, and the public is entitled to know, that, in fact, of the three founding members of ANUG, two are Guyanese citizens, and one is Guyanese by birth, and is also citizen of a Commonwealth State by descent.
Further, as long as I am part of ANUG, we will embrace all Guyanese into our membership and will welcome all like-minded citizens, whether living in Guyana or from the diaspora, whether Guyanese by birth or descent or marriage who share our view that race politics must end. Other members and well wishers who have expressed an interest in joining or supporting may be Guyanese or may have dual citizenship. Most Guyanese have ‘put in’ and are hoping to ‘get through’. More Guyanese live out of Guyana than in Guyana. None are the less patriotic for that.
Even more importantly, we will comply with the law. Of course, no member of ANUG is in Parliament, so no member of ANUG has violated any constitutional provision relating to qualifying criteria for Parliament. If the time comes that the public deems if fit to place ANUG in Parliament, no ANUG representative will be installed in that position of trust in violation of the citizenship requirements set out in the Constitution. The law must be obeyed at all times, not only when it is convenient.
I wish to add my voice to ANUG’s statement that I wish Terrence well.
Yours faithfully,
Timothy Jonas