AFC WARNS PPP/C AGAINST SELLING GUYANESE PASSPORTS AND CITIZENSHIP TO INTERNATIONAL TERRORISTS AND CRIMINALS

Georgetown, Guyana, February 14, 2022:

The Alliance for Change (AFC) is expressing concern regarding a pronouncement by Bharrat Jagdeo, during a televised interview on Monday February 7, 2022, that the Guyanese passport has "rediscovered" its value and citizenship.

The AFC said Mr. Jagdeo confirmed beyond any doubt that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration has returned to its pre-2015 modus operandi of facilitating the sale of Guyanese passport and citizenship to odious types, which will bring serious reputational harm to Guyana.

Jagdeo’s statement is not without merit. The signs of a repeat are evident everywhere as reports are rife of politicians and officials selling passports to anyone willing to pay the right price.

Every right-minded Guyanese should be outraged by this development because the scars from previous experiences are still too fresh to ignore. For example, it was not long ago during the heyday of Al Qaida that Adnan Guls-hair el Shuk-rij-umah, a Saudi Arabian born terrorist who headed the Operations of Al Qaida, carried a Guyanese passport.

Since then, the public record shows that the passport was acquired during the previous PPP/C regime, which caused tremendous embarrassment to our patrimony and prompted several western democracies to impose sanctions against Guyana.

In addition, two previous PPP Ministers with responsibility for Home Affairs – the late Ronald Gajraj and Clement Rohee were restricted from travelling to any significant western democracies.

The ‘el Shuk-ru-jumah passport affair’ was an international security failure of epic proportions and highlighted that Guyana’s borders were porous and susceptible to widespread infiltration. Though el Shukrijumah was later killed in Pakistan, the question remains as to how he obtained a Guyana passport while being wanted by every international law enforcement agency.

Jagdeo should have used the exposure given by the interview to answer the question and enlighten the Guyanese audience, which remains anxious to have closure of this episode. He is well aware of the buzz in the public space that the "big ones" in Guyana facilitated el Shuk-ri-jumah’s passport and presence in Guyana for a brief period.

It is regretful that with the PPP, Guyana finds itself on the same destructive trajectory as before, only this time moving at a faster rate.

END

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