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”.
Raphael Trotman
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.
Good luck with that one Raphael. I don’t see Jagdeo sitting down to embarass himself & cronies any further. Thay have done more than enough to embarass themselves & our nation.
Jagdeo is running scared! Hilarious!
How about getting the U. S. DEA to provide a comprehensive report upon which the debate is to be based.
Btw, where was this Trotman dude (who thinks that his “splinter/spoiler” group can win more votes than the PNC and PPP) come from – eh!
This should have rad: “Btw, where was this Trotman dude (who thinks that he his “splinter/spoiler” group can win more votes in General Elections in Guyana than the PNC or the PPP) in dem Burnham days; and, where did he come from – eh!
Also, rather than debating…. how about calling in the U. S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to assist in tracking down and finding the perpetrators. In any case the U. S. Fourth Fleet has already began sailing the Oceans in search of the “small, medium and large fishes”!
Re: “Effective July 1, the command will have operational responsibility for U.S. Navy assets assigned from east and west coast fleets to operate in the SOUTHCOM area. As a result, U.S. Fourth Fleet will not involve an increase in forces assigned in Mayport, Fla. These assets will conduct varying missions including a range of contingency operations, counter narcoterrorism, and theater security cooperation (TSC) activities. TSC includes military-to-military interaction and bilateral training opportunities as well as humanitarian assistance and in-country partnerships.
U.S. Fourth Fleet will retain responsibility as NAVSO, the Navy component command for SOUTHCOM. Its mission is to direct U.S. naval forces operating in the Caribbean, and Central and South American regions and interact with partner nation navies to shape the maritime environment.
Kernan will be the first Navy SEAL to serve as a numbered fleet commander.”
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=11862
Re: “U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command (NAVSO) directs naval forces and interacts with partner nations to shape the maritime environment within United States Southern Command’s Area Of Focus (AOF). With a focus on Theater Security Cooperation, NAVSO works to strengthen and build effective alliance and friendships, develop partner nation capabilities, and maintain U.S. operational access to defend the United States.
A robust strategy of cooperation including multi-national coalition exercises and training, diplomatic port visits, community relations activities and counter-drug operations make up the framework for the U.S. Navy’s focus in this region.”
http://www.cusns.navy.mil/command%20info.htm
Re: “MAYPORT, Fla. (NNS) — Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Gary Roughead announced today the reestablishment of U.S. 4th Fleet and assigned Rear Adm. Joseph D. Kernan, currently serving as Commander, Naval Special Warfare Command, as its first commander.
U.S. 4th Fleet will be responsible for U.S. Navy ships, aircraft and submarines operating in the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) area of focus, which encompasses the Caribbean, and Central and South America and the surrounding waters….”
http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=36606
So, how about just giving our boys a “shout to come ashore” and the world will see how quickly a solution can be found.
Mr.Trotman should move a motion in parliament to have a debate on drug lords. Who were the friends of Roger Khan in Guyana ??? We have some here in Barbados but they will be going to prison or a very long time . There is a guyanese “business man” who was on $10,000 bail , he was charged for communication fraud and when the case was called but he had already fled and one of his friends was ordered to pay the court $5,000 . He had friends in high places in Barbados and in the PPP , too . Mr.Trotman can tell the Stabroek News all that he knows about drug lords and who are their friends in the PPP , he does not have to wait , in vain , to have a debate with Jagdeo .
1. If Jagdeo will only debate his ‘equal’, then we have to wait for either Corbin or Trotman to become President? What utter foolishness from the mouth of ‘Don’t-Call-Me-the-Real-McCoy’! Jagdeo doesn’t want to debate, only denigrate, and he is silent now that the AFC is taking the fight to him. 2. The prominence Jagdeo’s gaffes are giving to the AFC will automatically benefit the AFC since the AFC is now appearing more a robust political opposition than the PNC. 3. I read Khem Ramjattan’s letter that unmasked Jagdeo and I recommend it as a must-read by all Guyanese at home and abroad. 4. I have no idea why Jagdeo chose to lampoon the AFC on the issue of receiving donations from an alleged drug baron when his own government is at the centre of a brewing storn of drug controversy. Is he not digging his own hole? GO AFC!!!!!
hahhahaha weak weak poo poo poo, if they had all the confidence and answers they would debate the man.
Jagdeo and the PPP should tek up dis man challenge rather than running and cowering.
Hey BS,
The PPP has nothing to fear from the son of the PNC. All they have to do is to let the people know, if they don’t already know it, that the AFC and Trotman in particular is the product and extension of the PNC. The AFC is the latest creation of the PNC that the PNC hopes that it will get them back into power. How is Biswattie Ramsawako aka known as Ramjhaaatan doing these days? I guess you are back in the Bronx since you are flying Old Glory again.
Nice try, Mr Trotman. Second time he has declined to take a lie detector test.
Oh come on Trotty you can do better than that. Do not try to corner the man with cheap tricks. The good president is his own worst enemy.
These boys have got to grow up and stop their personality politics.
Something these politicians never speak about nor acknowledge is the Grey Economy. The Grey Economy emerges when people have to spend more time circumventing government rules and regulating than concentrating on productive growth. The drug trade falls into this category. No one can deny that it injects money into the economy.
You know, we have all these brilliant sons of the soil way up there in government. All these boys with their MBA’S and PHD’s but yet the country is still in a logjam. These boys would have done well for themselves if they were CEO’s for an American corporation.
They would have been given golden parachutes and asked by the shareholders to just disappear with their long list of failures.
These boys were trained by the foreign institutions to be good efficient, loyal, obedient, dedicated leaders in a capitalist economy where all the tools of their trade at available at their fingertips, but to take these boys and put them on the coastline of the Amazon Jungle and ask them to perform is like putting a man in the middle of the Atlantic in a boat without a paddle.
That is exactly what we should do with all of these underperforming bureaucrats. Put them all in a Balahoo -ok lets give them a paddle- then shove them off at the Port Groyne jetty and let them find their way back to North America where they will perform.
That is the problem we are faced with my friends. Not Drug Kingpins but underperforming bureaucrats.
Joe.
I wish to make an apology to Mr. Trotman in light of the fact that the President did openly accuse his party of dealing with the drug underworld.
In these hard economic times the drug trade is not going to go away. It will proliferate. Cocaine production is the only low tech product with the highest ROI in the region. So this is not even economic lesson 101 as to why people still risk jail terms to peddle the product, it is economics for dummies.
Until the global moneylenders and shakedown artists realize that they cannot keep the burdensome yolk of foreign debt on our necks forever then the drug trade will become our only business of choice and survival and why not.
Governments all over the world need to start building more jails, because the tide of trafficers will increase exponentialy.
Joe.
Re: “Until the global moneylenders and shakedown artists realize that they cannot keep the burdensome yolk of foreign debt on our necks forever then the drug trade will become our only business of choice and survival and why not….”
How pathetic (with Guyana having an abundance of natural resources) to be repeating the same thing that the late Cheddi Jagan said a few years before his death.
Kaieteur Gold,
If Cheddi did make the same statement then he was right then as he is right today.
Joe.
Re: “If Cheddi did make the same statement then he was right then as he is right today…”
I once thought of “Cheddi” as an interesting person; but, after the statement he read in Canada to the effect that “it was not because of race that h was removed from office by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with the support of the British Military Intelligence (MI6) because if it was about race then he would have been in until today as it is well known that blacks are always at the bottom rounds of the economic ladder….” (thanks to Stabroek News (SN) for keeping it “lit”).
what would a debate accomplish?
A lot
A debate will challenge Jagdeo to finally put up or shut up.
And as for this ‘equal’ defense nonsense, he’ll have to get a ouija board for that. And even then, let’s hope he gets one of the other past presidents instead of Burnham.
The man in the mirror is sometimes given to scurrying from the fright of his own reflection.
The Prezidente has already said “I know what I know”.
Ya tink de president will debate your nonsense on tele?
You will have your debate right here in the big market paper….
Piece by piece it will all dribble out just like bits and drabs about RK.
Yo Trotman if yuh tink trying to embaras a president or govt will make you the next president then tink again.
George Bush did plenty of dat all by himself and he still got re-elected.
Yo Trotman if you tink by protesting to CARIGONE heads of state will make you president then tink again that CARIGONE heads of state cant elect yuh..
If yuh want to be president of Guyana then you have to ask the US govt to dash out de Jagdeo administration and place you as prezident of the Republic of Guyana because de more you talk and the more ads you take out and more you try to embaras tgis govt will not win hearts minds and votes of they guyanese mases at de balot box…..
So let de debate start right here on dis big market new paper….
ehehehehehehehehehehe……
leave jarge bush outta dis…he is naw we president anymore. Move de debate to de kanversation tree…too many people get charge fuh treason when de speak at city hal ehehehehehehehehehe.
Jagdeo can run but he cant hide, I love it that the Poo poo poo is finally owning up that the king / Dictator is on a whole other level than the average Guyanese.
Trotman made one mistake though if e want to debate the man he should talk to the people at Timehri because that is the only place you can ketch de man in de country.
He is on a plane every week running from Guyana.
All the PPP boys running from the country dont you see they having children in america and ramsammy gone to New Yawke to get medical treatment, dem boys dont want to suffer the same fate like farbes at GPHC.
BRANDON LET THE A-FEE-CEE give us a list of his contributors,
WE CAN VERIFY THAT, PUT UP OR SHUT UP>
When the PPP show us their list of supporters and donations made to the party the AFC will make a full disclosure.
When the PPP tell us how involved they were with Roger khan we wil gladly open up our books.
Look when jagdeo hollered it cost millions to put the AD in the Trinidadian newspapers we published the invoice and receipt in all the local newspapers here to show him how misinformed he was.
Jagdeo has no credibility when you make accusations you have to back it up with facts, let jagdeo provide all these fictitious facts he claims he has.
That’s right Trotman challenge him to a debate that would be broadcast live on TV,Freddy Kissoon challenge him already on this issue,i like the article Ramjattan wrote,it was a very nice one,that article alone should shut him up,what he is trying to do is belittle and spread propaganda against you and Ramjattan,keep counterattacking him and set up a team of competent people in the U.S so as soon as he comes here to dance at the Duck curry competition and hold meetings your people would pound him away with questions and press him for on why he is afraid to debate you all.You know why he is attacking you all is because the AFC placed full page ads in T&T and then again during the Caricom Summit he feels embarrassed,place another ad here in Queens,New York”Little Guyana”the Caribean Daylight would gladly publish it for you,keep attacking and shame him.
PUT UP OR SHUT UP, a list of his financial backers,
FIRSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
No one is playing your game and the PPP’s game freespeech, jagdeo is the accuser the onus is on him to prove his case.
Trotman,go get a life. Why don’t you do something productive with your time to help the strain poor people in guyana going thru. Join Mark Benschop and do a protest or something..ur inaction is almost criminal.
I sense that some person or agency is advising Mr. Trorman. The sole intention is to take his concern to the legal authorities and put it on the record. He is using the debate as a ruse. Mr.Mckoy should be careful with his words.