The AFC now reeks of the very same incestuousness as the PPP

Aug 10, 2013 Letters

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Dear Editor,
The AFC has now ventured down a road of no return. The PPP has already gone so far down that road that a search party of some of history’s greatest explorers cannot find it. Both of these entities are hypocrites on this Nigel Hughes as Company Secretary of Amaila Falls Hydro Inc. fiasco. I do not buy that the AFC did not know Nigel Hughes was Company Secretary of Amaila Falls Hydro Inc. since April 2009. It should have known, whether from its internal vetting process before accepting Hughes as Chairman of the party or when it was examining documents in preparation of public positions on the Amaila Falls hydroproject. It should have known. In the light of the very public involvement of the AFC in seeking answers on this project and its role and duty as an opposition party elected by the people to raise questions about public expenditure of this nature, Nigel Hughes before he joined the AFC not as footsoldier but at its highest levels, had a duty to declare and disclose to the AFC not only his connection to the project but also the fact that he was Company Secretary of Amaila Falls Hydro Inc. It is unclear from the public releases from Hughes himself and from the AFC whether Nigel Hughes specifically told the AFC he was the Company Secretary of Amaila Falls Hydro Inc. I agree with the writers in this newspapers who have distinguished public record from public knowledge. In the case where an individual assumes the Chairmanship of an important opposition party that collectively with the rest of the opposition holds a majority in Parliament and is able to pass laws without executive input, it is absolutely in the public interest and without doubt central to the public’s need to know that the public be made aware of that individual’s linkage to a company owned not only by a foreign corporation but also by the very Government that individual opposes politically! Sithe Global reportedly owns 60% and the government 40% of this company!
Nigel Hughes joined the AFC in July 2011 and campaigned in the election campaign. A centrepiece of the AFC’s campaign was condemnation of the Amaila Falls hydroproject on outlandish cost and corruption and that was one of the reasons why the opposition secured a majority in Parliament. Only a charlatan with no inkling of decency would argue that the public need not know of Hughes’ significant connection to the Amaila Falls hydroproject. Why didn’t Nigel Hughes resign his position as Company Secretary before joining an AFC platform when he fully knew even before he joined that the AFC opposed and criticized this project? Why didn’t he, after refusing to resign as Company Secretary before joining the AFC, shortly thereafter publicly announce he was Company Secretary to make that information public knowledge? Why didn’t the AFC make that announcement? The most pivotal question is even now when the revelations struck, why didn’t Nigel Hughes resign as Company Secretary of Amaila Falls Hydro Inc. instead of offering to resign as Chairman of the AFC? If as he stated, Nigel Hughes joined the AFC to serve the Guyanese nation and people, why did he when given no greater moment to put nation above self and the Guyanese people above personal aggrandizement, chose to resign as Chairman of the AFC but not as Chairman of the Amaila Falls Hydro Inc.?
Nigel Hughes cannot have his cake and eat it too. Frankly, his threat to resign seemed like grand orchestrated theatrics and well-acted posturing because almost immediately afterwards, the AFC folded like a cheap tent sacrificing an entire party for an single man who even when faced with choosing nation and people over his own interest, he chose self over nation,party and country. I figure that position as Company Secretary probably pays handsomely but Nigel Hughes was already a wealthy man before be became Company Secretary of the Amaila Falls Hydro Inc. He had the means and capacity to walk away without suffering deprivation. Yet he chose to resign as head of a national party than as Company Secretary of a much-maligned company controlling a project widely ripped as costly and a noose around the neck of the nation. The AFC now reeks of the very same incestuousness and atrociously misguided decision-making it accuses the PPP of. It should have accepted Hughes’ resignation. The only reason I can come up with why it did not is Hughes’ possible significant financial contribution to the AFC and possibly Sithe Global and its backers’ financial support or promised financial support for the AFC. So, I’m asking this very direct question of the AFC – is the AFC funded or was promised to be funded by Sithe Global and its financial backers?
Any rational political analysis of this decision reveals that it seriously exposes the AFC. Hughes failed to secure the African vote that left the AFC in 2011 and returned to the PNC/APNU. After this exposure, he is utterly incapable of attracting those African voters. The AFC got heavy support from Indians, especially in Berbice, who were disgusted with the PPP’s corruption. Holding steadfastly onto Hughes will alienate those very voters who will now perceive the AFC as no different than the PPP and in their racially tragic and maligned reasoning, why leave one corrupt entity for another. So, Hughes is really spent political capital. Financially, whatever Hughes possibly brings to the party or possibly whatever the AFC may have been promised by Sithe Global and its backers to capitulate and support this project is minuscule compared to the tragic economic consequences for this nation with a project that will cost in excess of US $1 billion when it is finally over. Selling one’s soul in this fashion for a few crumbs while the entire cookie and loaf crumbles to nothing and is lost is dangerous decision-making reminiscent of the short term pocket-filling ideology of the PPP while pushing this country over the falls. I cannot imagine an entire party trying to paint itself as morally superior sacrificed its entire political morality and capital on one man who has proven incapable of delivering votes. The AFC does not recognize it is held to a higher standard than the ethnic parties which can get away with virtually anything.
Let’s not forget the other snake in the grass here: the PPP. As 40% owner of the Amaila Falls Hydro Inc., which is administered by Winston Brassington’s NICIL, it clearly knew of Nigel Hughes’ role as Company Secretary. Yet it remained willfully silent, aborting its role to publicly inform the people and nation of this situation. As an elected party and part owner of this company, it had an unquestioned and unreserved duty to the people of this country to reveal this connection. The truth remains the PPP accepted Hughes as Company Secretary of its own government corporation and kept it a secret while blasting Hughes and the AFC in the same breath.
M. Maxwell

 

 

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