According to Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, representation of Afro-Guyanese is a convenience for advocate Dr David Hinds. Jagdeo said that when given an opportunity to represent “ordinary Guyanese”, Dr Hinds always chooses personal gains instead.
The politician said this at his most recent press conference. The former President threw several jabs at Dr Hinds as he spoke about the recent firings at the Department of Public Service.
Jagdeo said that the recently appointed minister, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, fired the Department’s personnel staff and the accountant simply because the information was leaked about payments — totaling over $20M — made to Minister Simona Broomes’ children.
Jagdeo told the media that the terminations by the minister were in retaliation and a way to “cover their tracks because they are worried more will be revealed.”
The Opposition Leader then made reference to a Guyana Standard article (https://www.guyanastandard.com/2019/06/05/govt-needs-to-flush-out-ppp-moles-from-public-service-david-hinds/) where Dr Hinds was quoted as saying that the government needs to flush out PPP moles from the public service.
The former president said, “These are not PPP moles who are sending us information; these are good decent Guyanese who are offended by the wanton corruption that is taking place in the top government circles and they want to expose them.”
Jagdeo continued, “This [Dr Hinds] is a human rights activist, a black rights activist. The people who were fired were all Afro-Guyanese but he is not concerned about that now; he is concerned about defending perks because I heard the minister who did this is related to him. Even if not, we know how close he has been advocating because she is a member of the WPA [Working People’s Alliance].”
Jagdeo said that when it comes to protecting corruption on his “own turf”, Dr Hinds’ activism was thrown out the window.
He said, “What about the Afro-Guyanese fired unfairly or what about this human rights people are entitled to work wherever and not be subjected to tests of which party they support and thirdly what about whistleblowers? Everywhere in the world, people give greater rights to whistleblowers. This is the vilest article. if I had a modicum of respect for the gentleman, it’s gone now because he is calling for a commission of inquiry into the public service with the aim of flushing out PPP moles.”
