I am not a sell-out; all I’m doing is trying to portray what PNCR should aspire to be – Bond

Former A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament and People’s National Congress (PNCR) member, James Bond has rebuffed critics, who have labeled him as a “sell-out” for rubbing shoulders with opposition rivals and persons in the business community perceived by the opposition coalition as government supporters and financiers.

The attorney-at-law and businessman, who has been vocal on “the importance of recognizing the Guyanese identity” said on a recent show, “Politics 101” hosted by Dr David Hinds, that he is appalled at this categorization as a “house slave” by pro-opposition elements.

His recent handing over of donations to the Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO) – the youth arm of the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) – to be distributed in an East Coast Demerara (ECD) community, has raised some eyebrows in the opposition camp, but Bond says he is comfortable participating in any activity that promotes collaboration of people of all walks of life.

“I’m comfortable doing that as a businessman, as Guyanese politician, as a lawyer, I’m comfortable doing that because I understand that diversity only adds. At the end of the day, people are seeing a PNC member who is coming into our community and assisting and reaching out; who’s crossing over and those kinds of messages bodes well for the picture of what the PNC should be, what the PNC should look like,” he said.

He added that his work only adds to the PNCR’s assurance that it will remain an all-inclusive political party.

“We’ve all struggled with rebranding how persons view the PNC. We say we’re all-inclusive and whatever the case is, but I think the action or actions to show that we can reach over to the business sector, we could reach over to our Indo-Guyanese brothers and sisters, we could reach over to the Amerindian communities, we could touch every single facet of Guyana, as PNC or as Coalition politicians, I think that bodes well,” he said.

The PNCR member, who was shot during a Georgetown protest by police with rubber bullets in 2011, said that he has “bled for the party” and “personally donated millions and raised millions of the party” and yet, he is now being branded a “sell-out”.

Bond said that he “dealt” with persons who are supporters of other political parties and business owners before the 2020 General and Regional Elections and have even walked “up the stairs” with prominent businessmen, whom he still associates himself with, to make contributions to the David Granger 2015 election campaign.

“How all of sudden now, I’m a sell-out? How all of a sudden now, I’m a house slave?… We’re are so quick to separate and castigate and put one side; we’re impatient, we’re not trying to understand…The elections are over. We have got to start rebuilding.” He said.

Bond said that he has begun the draft of the “Nehemiah Project” to “rebuild the bridges that were broken as a result of the 2020 elections and to start rebuilding the coalition”.

“These are steps towards repairing the breach, so people can say, we can trust a PNC supporter, we can trust a PNCR executive because their intention is nation-building. They won’t vote for you because you cuss them, you know. They’ll vote for you because they have confidence in your leadership…But don’t tell me that because we lost an election and because I’m not cussin’ the PPP/Civic every day, that somehow, you can’t understand me and you can’t support me, you can’t be there for me. I can never understand it.”