Dear Editor,
For the first time in many years, I felt like I wanted to puke. So what could have brought on this sudden feeling of nausea and outrage? Well, I made the mistake of listening to Moses Nagamootoo, the usurper Prime Minister, as he was being interviewed on the NCN programme, InSight, last Wednesday, September 18.
Now, this is the same man who, while campaigning in Whim, Berbice, on April 2, 2015, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k013CAcuJbk) tried to convince his supporters of his virtues by claiming he was the first Minister to refuse a salary increase unless the salaries of nurses and teachers were also increased. “I have never, as a Minister, stayed at a hotel, 5-star; 3-star; 4-star, any hotel at the expense of the Government of Guyana. I have never travelled first class in an aeroplane while I was a Minister” he added.
So what has caused Nagamootoo to change, or did he? Moses Nagamootoo, a former “Jaganite” who withdrew his membership from the PPP just before the 2011 General and Regional Elections because he believed he was being “bulldozed” out of the leadership of the party, a position he claimed was bequeathed upon him by the late Cheddi Jagan during some private discussion.
But these were all lies, made up to satisfy his massive ego. He was annoyed with the PPP because he was not elected the PPP/C Presidential Candidate in 2011. Moses Nagamootoo is an opportunist who will say and do anything as long as it benefits Nagamootoo. This is the same man who was quoted in an October 21, 2011 article in the Kaieteur News as saying, “I hold dearly his (Dr Jagan’s) great ideals for a free and democratic Guyana where leaders ought to be judged by character, integrity and honesty.”
But now that he is enjoying “the good life” under the APNU/AFC coalition, Nagamootoo has forgotten all about those virtues and great ideals he learnt from Cheddi Jagan and has morphed into the biggest apologist and defender of a dictator who now squats in Government. How low can Moses go?
During his InSight interview, the usurper was asked about the significance of the date, September 18. Here is his shameless response in part:
“To me, it was a wrong, a false interpretation of the Constitution following a No-Confidence Motion… But our situation here was quite different. The 90 days came and pass. The issue of the No-Confidence Motion was engaging the attention of the courts. And so the 90 days lapsed. So when the courts (CCJ) pronounced eventually on June 18th that the No-Confidence Motion was valid, was properly passed, there was an interpretation by the political Opposition that the 90 days begin to run all over again.
But as I wrote in my article, there is no second 90 days… for me [it is] a fiction, it’s a figment of the imagination of persons who, for their own reason, would want to see elections held and the intention is to see the back of this Government. “
As a lawyer, Nagamootoo is familiar with our Constitution and the 3-month limitation within which elections must be called following the successful passage of a No-Confidence Motion. But like Basil Williams, he chooses to ignore that.
It is obvious that the once outspoken defender of the Guyana Constitution is now prepared to disregard its continuous abuse and to hang on to power for the sole purpose of protecting the super-rich Cadillac lifestyle he now enjoys: A monthly salary of over G$1.7 million, plus another million or so in perks per month; the brand new G$22 million customised luxury Land Cruiser he drives with sirens and police escorts, and the fleet of 20 more vehicles at his disposal.
He spent over G$19 million of taxpayers’ money on overseas travel from October 2015 to July 2017; and can now import unlimited vehicles which will be exempted from Value Added Tax (VAT). In addition, his wife, Seeta, whom he takes on all his overseas travels, gets to see the world in all its fine glory at taxpayers’ expense. Did I mention that they both travel first class, reside in 5-star luxury hotels and don’t have to give account for the thousands of US$ in taxpayers’ money they spend upon return from these trips?
Interestingly, it was Nagamootoo who often referred to the former PPP/C Cabinet Ministers as “fat cat” and condemned the living of a “Cadillac lifestyle in a donkey-cart economy” when he was sitting on the Opposition benches before May 2015.
Moses Nagamootoo may have once championed the cause of cane cutters and rice farmers and ordinary Guyanese, but in the end, greed and personal ambition have overcome any decency he had left, and have now reduced him to a mere rubber stamp. Again, I ask, how low can Moses go?
Regards,
Harry Gill
PPP/C Member of
Parliament