is this the fella the PPP hired?
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where down Shawn Hinds live right now?
In the barracks at Freedom House.
Mars did you say this in March last year????
If you guys have the proof then prove it. Until then, you are just posting AFC hogwash and "Dem Boys Seh" Nonsense.
Talk is cheap. Facts are what we need, until then keep posting AFC hogwash. BTW, the AFC is broke so use whatever avenue you have left to post your hogwash.
Mars did you say this in March last year????
Guyana has never in its history experienced state sponsored murder like it did at the hands of the PPP. They have turned out to be the most corrupt and murderous party ever in Guyana. Poor Papa Cheddi mussi turnin in he grave every night.
AFC councillor details widespread corruption within party
By AFC Region 6 Councillor Haseef Yusuf
AFC Councillor, Haseef Yusuf
Nothing that the Alliance For Change (AFC) does or will do in the future will ever surprise me again. There is a saying that you only know someone when you deal with him. If I had not dealt with certain executive members of the AFC, I would still be singing their praises.I knew from the inception that Nigel Hughes would rescind his resignation because in the end, when you are in the same boat, you will never want to part company with your compadres. The âtop gunsâ in the AFC need each otherâs support badly. They complement each otherâs corrupt practices, as they try to outsmart their members and supporters.
However, recently there was a desperate attempt to get rid of me by the National Executive Committee of the AFC since I am not part of the corrupt âjahaajiâ network. They sent a message with an AFC Region 6 Councillor that if I am not pleased with the current policies and actions of the party then I should resign from the party and as an AFC Councillor. I told that Councillor in no uncertain terms that if the AFC is not pleased with my stance against cronyism and corruption and my promotion of national development, then they should expel me and furthermore, it is the corrupt ones within the AFC who should resign!
Ironically, it was the same Councillor who submitted exhaustive evidence of cronyism and corruption against an AFC MP at an inquiry, who claimed that he spent in excess of $4.5M on âbiganâ and âcurassâ. That was a âwhitewash inquiryâ and even the Chairman of that inquiry, the then General Secretary Mr Sextus Edwards, was not aware of the press release which concluded that the entire episode was one of âmisunderstanding and miscommunication.â You cannot go against your own kind!
Subsequently, there was numerous evidence of corruption but I no longer have the resolve to bring it up. It was simply a case of you cannot fight the Devilâs case in Hell!
I will just itemize a few instances:
- Certain top members of the AFC will go abroad (Canada, USA) and members in the diaspora will hold fund- raisers and give monies collected to these members who will not submit the same in its entirety since proper accounting records are not kept. I was utterly shocked when the unaudited financial statement for 2012 showed that in one year the AFC only collected $22,087,500 from its chapters in the UK, Canada, USA, etc. During the 2011 campaign alone; one of the chapters in Canada sent $55,000 Canadian or $11,000,000 (Guyana dollars). I have evidence of this.
- Certain top AFC members will collect donations and not make any recordings in any receipt book or any document whatever.
- Monies are being spent with no proper bills or vouchers;
- positions are given to cronies and those who donate a lot.
- I saw a top AFC member collect monies and issue a receipt but on looking closer I saw that there was no carbon sheet, hence no duplication made. How was the balancing done?
- Everything was donated for a fund-raiser in Berbice and it made a loss!
- On Election Day 2011, food and drinks were diverted to some AFC membersâ homes for their private use while some AFC polling agents went hungry;
- During the 2012 AFC convention, a motion was passed for AFC groups to bank all monies collected in a party account, this was never done. In fact, it was I who raised that motion which was unanimously passed. So much for accountability!
- During the 2011 elections there were three factions in Berbice and all were accusing each other about theft, mismanagement and corruption, but no investigation was done. The leaders of the AFC cannot afford to ârock the boat.â
- During the AFC 2012 convention, members were specifically instructed not to vote for the former General Secretary but to vote in favour of David Patterson. This also happened in the case of Moses Nagamootoo and Mrs. Punalall.
- Article 15(9) of the AFC Constitution stated that the National Executive Committee shall appoint an auditor annually yet the AFC presented an unaudited and inaccurate financial statement at the AFC 2012 Convention. There is no shortage of accountants and auditors within the AFC, so why no audited accounts?
- The financial statement which ended on February 2012 showed a surplus of $464,643 yet members were told after the 2011 Elections that the AFC owed Mrs Cathy Hughes a sum in excess of $ 7,000,000 and that the AFC MPs will have to make contributions towards offsetting that liability. How can there be a surplus when monies are owed? In other words, there were no bills to support the spending of $ 7 million! The financial statement did not speak of any liability! Here is a party that is preaching accountability but is utterly devoid of that concept in its internal dealings.
Is this the party that wants to run this country? It seems as if the worst from the PNC and PPP formed the AFC; not the best as I had believed! Mr Ramjattan himself told me that if the AFC had won the elections, there would have been âmurderationâ among members for positions. But it would have also been âmurderationâ to fill their pockets! Imagine all the political blackmail that is going on now with the intention to fill some of the AFCâs âfat catsâ pockets! Come on Ramjattan, make the âright turnâ or resign! You cannot allow your âboysâ to continue their corrupt tendencies! But then can you afford âto rock the boatâ?
Is it wrong for me to speak out about the very things the AFC is preaching in public about? Should I keep my mouth shut, turn a blind eye and pretend that all is well within my party?
I believe in what the Great Mahatma preached- do not be afraid to speak out against corruption even if you are alone. History will judge and absolve me for speaking out against cronyism and corruption within my party. I will have to clean my house before I clean my neighbourâs. Let us remove the âbeamâ from our own eyes then we can see to remove the âspeckâ from our brotherâs.
PPP afraid of results of forensic investigation â PNCR
The main opposition Peopleâs National Congress Reform (PNCR) has reiterated its call for a forensic investigation and inquiry into the late Minister Satyadeow âSashâ Sawhâs death. The call was made at the partyâs weekly press conference at Congress Place yesterday. The PNCR said that recent revelations by the late Ministerâs family, concerning the Governmentâs failure to adequately pursue the perpetrators of the killings, coincide with the long held belief of the PNCR that the PPP administration was deliberately avoiding an investigation into criminal violence in Guyana for fear of what it will reveal. The main opposition had called for an international inquiry into the slaying of the late Minister, but this call had also gone unheeded by the PPP/C Government. According to the PNCR, except for the self-serving statement by the Commissioner of Police, Henry Greene, no genuine efforts were ever undertaken to ascertain the truth, or solve this crime. âSimilarly, no serious attempt has been made to track down and arrest the killers of Ronald Waddell notwithstanding the revelations in the Roger Khan and Robert Simels trials in the United States. Those fingered continue to roam the streets of Guyana boasting of their untouchable status,â the PNCR stated. In April 2006, a gang of heavily armed men invaded the ministerâs home at La Bonne Intention on the East Coast of Demerara and killed the minister, his brother and sister, and his security guard. There was some speculation that the killings were committed during a robbery as was suggested by the then Police Commissioner, Winston Felix. However, persons close to the PPP/C administration are convinced that the minister was executed. There were also suggestions that jailed Guyanese drug lord, Shaheed âRogerâ Khan might have had some knowledge about the murders. But in July of that same year, after interviewing several persons connected to the Forestry Commission, investigators found no evidence of Khanâs involvement in the killings of the Minister, his siblings and the security guard. The police had issued bulletins for several persons associated with a Buxton gang led by Rondell Rawlins aka âFine Manâ. These included Mash Day escapee, Troy Dick, Orlando Andrews called âBiscuitâ or âJeffrey,â of Buxton, David Zammett, called David Leander or âBullet,â of Buxton, Jermaine Charles called âSkinnyâ of Agricola, and Richard Daniels called âChuckyâ of Agricola. The police were also seeking other persons who are known only by their nicknames: âCashâ of Buxton, âNot Niceâ of Buxton, âSonnyâ of Agricola, and âJohn Kirbyâ of Agricola. Except for âNot Niceâ, and âCashâ, all of the persons wanted for the ministerâs murder have been killed. With regards to the killing of Ronald Waddell, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said that local investigators are still awaiting word on their request for information from the United States of America. The names of three Guyanese were mentioned in courts in the United States during the trial of Shaheed âRogerâ Khan and his attorney Robert Simels, as the men who carried out the execution of Waddell. The Crime Chief indicated that these persons have been questioned by the police recently in connection with the killing. However, they were released after no incriminating evidence was unearthed.
AFC councillor details widespread corruption within party
By AFC Region 6 Councillor Haseef Yusuf
AFC Councillor, Haseef Yusuf
Nothing that the Alliance For Change (AFC) does or will do in the future will ever surprise me again. There is a saying that you only know someone when you deal with him. If I had not dealt with certain executive members of the AFC, I would still be singing their praises.I knew from the inception that Nigel Hughes would rescind his resignation because in the end, when you are in the same boat, you will never want to part company with your compadres. The âtop gunsâ in the AFC need each otherâs support badly. They complement each otherâs corrupt practices, as they try to outsmart their members and supporters.
However, recently there was a desperate attempt to get rid of me by the National Executive Committee of the AFC since I am not part of the corrupt âjahaajiâ network. They sent a message with an AFC Region 6 Councillor that if I am not pleased with the current policies and actions of the party then I should resign from the party and as an AFC Councillor. I told that Councillor in no uncertain terms that if the AFC is not pleased with my stance against cronyism and corruption and my promotion of national development, then they should expel me and furthermore, it is the corrupt ones within the AFC who should resign!
Ironically, it was the same Councillor who submitted exhaustive evidence of cronyism and corruption against an AFC MP at an inquiry, who claimed that he spent in excess of $4.5M on âbiganâ and âcurassâ. That was a âwhitewash inquiryâ and even the Chairman of that inquiry, the then General Secretary Mr Sextus Edwards, was not aware of the press release which concluded that the entire episode was one of âmisunderstanding and miscommunication.â You cannot go against your own kind!
Subsequently, there was numerous evidence of corruption but I no longer have the resolve to bring it up. It was simply a case of you cannot fight the Devilâs case in Hell!
I will just itemize a few instances:
- Certain top members of the AFC will go abroad (Canada, USA) and members in the diaspora will hold fund- raisers and give monies collected to these members who will not submit the same in its entirety since proper accounting records are not kept. I was utterly shocked when the unaudited financial statement for 2012 showed that in one year the AFC only collected $22,087,500 from its chapters in the UK, Canada, USA, etc. During the 2011 campaign alone; one of the chapters in Canada sent $55,000 Canadian or $11,000,000 (Guyana dollars). I have evidence of this.
- Certain top AFC members will collect donations and not make any recordings in any receipt book or any document whatever.
- Monies are being spent with no proper bills or vouchers;
- positions are given to cronies and those who donate a lot.
- I saw a top AFC member collect monies and issue a receipt but on looking closer I saw that there was no carbon sheet, hence no duplication made. How was the balancing done?
- Everything was donated for a fund-raiser in Berbice and it made a loss!
- On Election Day 2011, food and drinks were diverted to some AFC membersâ homes for their private use while some AFC polling agents went hungry;
- During the 2012 AFC convention, a motion was passed for AFC groups to bank all monies collected in a party account, this was never done. In fact, it was I who raised that motion which was unanimously passed. So much for accountability!
- During the 2011 elections there were three factions in Berbice and all were accusing each other about theft, mismanagement and corruption, but no investigation was done. The leaders of the AFC cannot afford to ârock the boat.â
- During the AFC 2012 convention, members were specifically instructed not to vote for the former General Secretary but to vote in favour of David Patterson. This also happened in the case of Moses Nagamootoo and Mrs. Punalall.
- Article 15(9) of the AFC Constitution stated that the National Executive Committee shall appoint an auditor annually yet the AFC presented an unaudited and inaccurate financial statement at the AFC 2012 Convention. There is no shortage of accountants and auditors within the AFC, so why no audited accounts?
- The financial statement which ended on February 2012 showed a surplus of $464,643 yet members were told after the 2011 Elections that the AFC owed Mrs Cathy Hughes a sum in excess of $ 7,000,000 and that the AFC MPs will have to make contributions towards offsetting that liability. How can there be a surplus when monies are owed? In other words, there were no bills to support the spending of $ 7 million! The financial statement did not speak of any liability! Here is a party that is preaching accountability but is utterly devoid of that concept in its internal dealings.
Is this the party that wants to run this country? It seems as if the worst from the PNC and PPP formed the AFC; not the best as I had believed! Mr Ramjattan himself told me that if the AFC had won the elections, there would have been âmurderationâ among members for positions. But it would have also been âmurderationâ to fill their pockets! Imagine all the political blackmail that is going on now with the intention to fill some of the AFCâs âfat catsâ pockets! Come on Ramjattan, make the âright turnâ or resign! You cannot allow your âboysâ to continue their corrupt tendencies! But then can you afford âto rock the boatâ?
Is it wrong for me to speak out about the very things the AFC is preaching in public about? Should I keep my mouth shut, turn a blind eye and pretend that all is well within my party?
I believe in what the Great Mahatma preached- do not be afraid to speak out against corruption even if you are alone. History will judge and absolve me for speaking out against cronyism and corruption within my party. I will have to clean my house before I clean my neighbourâs. Let us remove the âbeamâ from our own eyes then we can see to remove the âspeckâ from our brotherâs.
PPP afraid of results of forensic investigation â PNCR
The main opposition Peopleâs National Congress Reform (PNCR) has reiterated its call for a forensic investigation and inquiry into the late Minister Satyadeow âSashâ Sawhâs death. The call was made at the partyâs weekly press conference at Congress Place yesterday. The PNCR said that recent revelations by the late Ministerâs family, concerning the Governmentâs failure to adequately pursue the perpetrators of the killings, coincide with the long held belief of the PNCR that the PPP administration was deliberately avoiding an investigation into criminal violence in Guyana for fear of what it will reveal. The main opposition had called for an international inquiry into the slaying of the late Minister, but this call had also gone unheeded by the PPP/C Government. According to the PNCR, except for the self-serving statement by the Commissioner of Police, Henry Greene, no genuine efforts were ever undertaken to ascertain the truth, or solve this crime. âSimilarly, no serious attempt has been made to track down and arrest the killers of Ronald Waddell notwithstanding the revelations in the Roger Khan and Robert Simels trials in the United States. Those fingered continue to roam the streets of Guyana boasting of their untouchable status,â the PNCR stated. In April 2006, a gang of heavily armed men invaded the ministerâs home at La Bonne Intention on the East Coast of Demerara and killed the minister, his brother and sister, and his security guard. There was some speculation that the killings were committed during a robbery as was suggested by the then Police Commissioner, Winston Felix. However, persons close to the PPP/C administration are convinced that the minister was executed. There were also suggestions that jailed Guyanese drug lord, Shaheed âRogerâ Khan might have had some knowledge about the murders. But in July of that same year, after interviewing several persons connected to the Forestry Commission, investigators found no evidence of Khanâs involvement in the killings of the Minister, his siblings and the security guard. The police had issued bulletins for several persons associated with a Buxton gang led by Rondell Rawlins aka âFine Manâ. These included Mash Day escapee, Troy Dick, Orlando Andrews called âBiscuitâ or âJeffrey,â of Buxton, David Zammett, called David Leander or âBullet,â of Buxton, Jermaine Charles called âSkinnyâ of Agricola, and Richard Daniels called âChuckyâ of Agricola. The police were also seeking other persons who are known only by their nicknames: âCashâ of Buxton, âNot Niceâ of Buxton, âSonnyâ of Agricola, and âJohn Kirbyâ of Agricola. Except for âNot Niceâ, and âCashâ, all of the persons wanted for the ministerâs murder have been killed. With regards to the killing of Ronald Waddell, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said that local investigators are still awaiting word on their request for information from the United States of America. The names of three Guyanese were mentioned in courts in the United States during the trial of Shaheed âRogerâ Khan and his attorney Robert Simels, as the men who carried out the execution of Waddell. The Crime Chief indicated that these persons have been questioned by the police recently in connection with the killing. However, they were released after no incriminating evidence was unearthed.
They bumped off all of the hitmen that they hired to kill Sash Sawh and Ronald Wadell.
Aga Khan, the forgotten security guard in the Sash Sawh murder
âI believe I get a lâil raw deal. I went to Freedom House a couple times and they help me with the Old Age pension.
Many of us would readily recall the murders of Minister Satyadeow Sawh, and his sister and brother on that fateful night of April 22, 2006; some would even remember one of his security guards, Curtis Robertson, who was also shot dead that very night by a gang of marauding killers. But how many of us will recall the other Security Guard, Aga Khan, who took a bullet in his stomach while working at the Ministerâs residence that night.
Khan, now 68-years old, seems to be the forgotten victim of the attack, so much so that apart from the help of his former boss, the Central Islamic Organization of Guyana (CIOG) and the National Insurance Scheme, he is barely eking out a living after almost giving his life guarding a Minister of the present government. He spoke of being shunned by the administration despite promises of help by senior operatives at Freedom House. And it was as if the police were not really interested in successfully prosecuting the murders, since they never even took a statement from Khan who was obviously an eyewitness. Six years after the tragedy, Khan is still reeling from its effects both physically and psychologically. He has lost one of his kidneys which was damaged by the bullet fired from a high powered rifle, and has sustained damage to his spine If you see him walking down the street, it would appear as if he is drunk. He sways from side to side. But this condition is a result of the trauma and head injury he sustained after he was shot. Today Khan is a walking drug store. He has to see doctors on a regular basis. But no amount of medical attention could erase the ordeal from his memory and even as he lives out his days, a little help and appreciation is all that he craves. Khanâs career as a security guard took him to the homes of several Government Ministers, including the late Michael Shree-Chand, Indra Chandarpal and finally Satyadeow Sawh and he came to know them personally. That is why to this day he cannot understand why he has been so shabbily treated. Yesterday Khan sat down with Kaieteur News at his Lusignan, East Coast Demerara home and recalled the events that changed his life as well as the lives of many others. On the April 22, 2006, around 18:00 hours, Khan and his stepson, Curtis Robertson, reported for duty at Minister Sawhâs Earlâs Court, LBI, East Coast Demerara home. Of course they hadnât the slightest inclination of the brutality that would have been experienced that night. Although Guyana was in the midst of an unprecedented crime wave, an attack on a Government Minister was almost unthinkable. It was for this reason that neither Khan nor his stepson was armed (the Minister had requested unarmed security personnel for his home).
Around 21:00 hours that evening, the Minister and his relatives, including his two sons left the premises for an outside dinner. According to Khan, the night air was pierced with sporadic bursts from squibs (firecrackers) even at that time of the year, so what followed next really caught him by surprise. The Minister, his wife Sattie, his brothers and his sister returned home around midnight and sat in the verandah of the single flat house, having a âdrinkâ. Khan had taken up his position at the back of the house under a benab, while his stepson was in front. The elderly security guard said that he got up and went into an outdoor washroom where he âtook a smokeâ and âspent a little timeâ. While in the washroom, he heard what he thought was the usual squibs and did not take it for anything much. âWhen I finished smoking and I came out, I hear hollering and I run.â At the time Khan was unaware of what was actually taking place. âIf a centipede or anything in the house, crawling, they would call for Mr. Khan,â he said. Thinking that it was one such situation, khan ran towards the front of the house. Khan did not see anyone but as he was approaching the short stairway, he heard a loud crack and immediately felt a burning in his stomach. A bullet had passed through his left side. âThe chap was in the corner; probably he must be see when I coming and âbow!â after I fall, all I hear Mr. Sawh say, âTake whatever yâall want, donât harm me familyâ. And all I hear was three shots.â The entire ordeal, he said, lasted no more than five minutes and to Khan it did not appear is if the perpetrators were there to commit robbery. He did not hear what the killers were saying nor did he recognize any of them, since there was not much light in the verandah area. Khan said that after he was shot he fell backwards and hit his head on the concrete but strangely, he did not lose consciousness. He recalled that as he turned on his side, he saw his stepson, Curtis Robertson, lying motionless by the gate. With his whole boy numb, Khan could hardly do anything to help himself or even check on his stepson, who he realized was badly wounded. According to Khan when the bandits were leaving one of them heard Robertson groan and he turned back and âfinished him off.â âNaturally I see the guy push the gun through the gate and shoot me stepson, âBadow!â Naturally I see his body raise up and fall back down.â Khan is convinced that had he made a sound he too would have been finished off. After the killers left, the badly injured Khan, bleeding profusely from his wound, got up and went into the house where he met Mrs. Sawh who had by then emerged from her hiding place. âI tell she, âMistress, before you start hollering, phone fuh de ambulanceâ,â Khan said. He managed to make it back outside and retrieved the radio set that the dead Robertson was carrying and made contact with his employers. Twenty minutes later, his Manager arrived and a few minutes after that an ambulance came and took Khan and another security guard from a nearby residence who was also wounded, to the Georgetown Public Hospital. Khan said that he was conscious all the time until doctors at the hospital sedated him in order to operate on him. âWhen I wake up, they done de surgery. It damage one of me kidney, part of me urinary tract and I get a pinched disc.â The fall he sustained also affected his movement. âWhen I walk, I staggering. I know where I am going but I canât walk in a straight line; I always unbalanced,â Khan explained. He remained in the hospital for several days and since his discharge he has been unable to work. Khan has been seeing countless doctors for his condition and although they have been able to prescribe treatment, it has done little to alleviate his suffering. âOne time, Dr (name given) ask me âMr. Khan, you want I open you head and see whatâs wrong insideâ. I was really pissed off about it but I couldnât say anything because he is a doctor,â the former security guard told Kaieteur News. For the past six years, Khan has been trying to get some form of assistance from the administration but so far all he has received are promises. âI believe I get a liâl raw deal. I went to Freedom House a couple times and they help me with the Old Age pension. I went many time and they say they gun see wha they can do. I go and went back and every time they saying ânoting ainât fix yet.â Khan said that he met with the late President Janet Jagan and then General Secretary of the ruling PPP, Donald Ramotar, but nothing tangible was obtained. âI just get fed up and stop going back. The only person I get help from is my boss man Mr. Richard Kanhai and the CIOG. I was really frustrated,â He is confident, though, that should he get an audience with Ramotar who is now the President, he will be able to successfully put forward his case for some form of assistance. âIf I meet with him, I believe that he will try to make the wrong right. Because I talked to him before and he promised to help me but after I go several times and nothing happened, I never went back. I went about six, seven times and then I said âLook, it makes no senseâ,â Khan said. He was further frustrated when he sought an audience with Prime Minister Samuel Hinds only to be told by the Secretary that he has to write a letter, just to see the official. Khan recalled that before he came out of hospital he was visited by the dead Ministerâs wife. The security guard said that it was he who advised Mrs. Sawh to leave Guyana following the death of her husband. âI sit down and say âMrs. Sawh, you got your two kids, donât stay, move, because these guys done know what is whatâ, and eventually, the next couple months or so, she move.â Khanâs medical bill is close to $15,000 per month in tablets alone and with his meager NIS income as well as his Old Age Pension, he has to rely on the assistance of his former employer and the CIOG. âAll the hospital giving me is Panadol and Ibuprofen,â Khan stated. One man, David Leander, called âBiscuitâ had faced the court for the murders but no one was charged with the attempted murder of Aga Khan. Khan wasnât even called upon to testify at the trial. It was as if his injury was insignificant. To make matters worse, the police never even took a statement from him. He described the work of a security guard as very dangerous and he lamented that there is often no thanks for the work that they do. But despite all of his âmistreatmentâ Khan is grateful to his Maker for sparing his life. âWe can run from anything but we cannot run from our destiny,â he said.