Dear Editor,
Reading all these news items surrounding Ms. Mae Thomas, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, has confirmed that Jagdeo might be politically astute locally but strategically unwise globally. A Washington Post article dated September 15, 2022, confirmed that in 2021 approximately 179 million travelers passed through the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) scrutiny, and only 0.2% were subject to secondary checks. So how come Ms. Mae Thomas ended up in the very marginal group? This is not “abna babna lady and see”. She was on a watch list. But since her release from CBP custody, Jagdeo has been deliberately opaque about this issue and needed to be more strategically wise in calculating the global consequences for Guyana. This is not about Freedom House but Guyana and its place in the world.
Ms. Mae Thomas might be a loyal comrade of Freedom House, but Mae Thomas is not more important than Guyana. This entire country is now suffering reputationally and otherwise because of the dogmatic position being adopted by Jagdeo. So the pertinent questions are: What actions caused Ms. Mae Thomas to turn up on a US Government watch list? Who in the Government of Guyana authorized her actions to cause the US Government to put her name on that list? When was she placed on this watch list, was the Government of Guyana aware of her travel situation vis-a-vis the USA? What has the CBP, FBI, DEA, ATF and the anti-money laundering agencies in the USA found on her phone and who else has now been placed on the watch list because of the information gathered? Why did the US Embassy – Georgetown put out a security alert on March 29, 2023, warning US Citizens about a threat against US interests in Georgetown, Guyana? Is the US Government concerned about massive money laundering operations out of Guyana using the Middle East, the PPP, and the wealthy oligarchs around the PPP? How critical was Ms. Mae Thomas’s phone as a source of information to advance the US Government investigations? Is Mr. Jagdeo aware of the geopolitical consequence to Guyana and the PPP by pretending that with time this too shall pass?
As a lover of the PPP, I want to caution Jagdeo on some global principles if he is unaware. The US Government and Exxon operate under the principle of working with people with a common interest to them. If Jagdeo thinks he can give away ten more projects to
Exxon, and they will come to his defence against the US Government, he is living in a fool’s paradise. He should consult Rohee on these matters. If he does not think that the US Government and CIA cannot manufacture a minority Govern-ment in Guyana come 2025, as it did in 2011, he is clearly thinking in a bubble.
Did the PPP observe the pedestal that Reverend A1 Sharpton provided Ms Amanza Walton-Desir, as she shared the head table with the US Vice President Kamala Harris at the NAN Conference? She did not waste the opportunity to paint the PPP-led Government in the “nastities” of light, despite the fact that we in Guyana know that the statements she made were an overreach and mostly inaccurate. The US Government at the highest levels were told that under the PPP, a significant segment of the population is being left behind deliberately using the practice of racial oppression as the driver. The PPP is aware of how false this position is, but is the Vice President of the United States aware how villages dominated by PPP supporters are being left behind while PNC strongholds are getting the cream of the pie in the development of their communities?
So, I conclude as I started, from all appearances, the actions by the PPP and Jagdeo, prove that while he is a political master at confronting Norton and Nigel Hughes locally, on the global stage, he is failing to read the “tea leaves” skillfully and competently. I hope he is aware that India and China will not help Guyana when the 2025 elections are called; the USA will. And they will help Guyana; not the PPP. I am appealing, for our country’s sake, please send Ms. Mae Thomas on fully-paid administrative leave and conduct an independent local investigation. Unfortunately, the fact remains that Exxon will extract oil from Guyana, irrespective of whether the PPP or PNC is in power.
Sincerely,
(Name and Address Withheld)
