The political hierarchy of many ancient and medieval States included a position, the Hand of the King. Game of Thrones fans can think of the likes of Eddard Stark and Tyrion Lannister. For those not privy to such context, the Hand is considered the second most important person in politics, somewhat analogous to a Prime Minister.
Under the rule of former President David Granger, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo was considered titular.
Therefore, Joseph Harmon, whose official positions were Minister of State then Director General, was the Hand of the King. Just two years after wielding such power, Harmon’s political career is in shambles. Guyana Standard found this worthy of examination.
Harmon has had a series of losses recently. Harmon lost in his bid to get back into government. The people rejected his king and therefore rejected him. Granger never returned as an active politician since his defeat. But Harmon stayed. Harmon seemed to have wanted to stay the course with the hope he may return to Government as President.
In the meantime, Harmon became Leader of
the Opposition. He then sought to cement his position as top man, in opposition, when he entered the race to become Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR).
In the lead up to congress, Harmon, like a typical candidate, expressed the highest optimism that he would have become leader. But in all his declarations, Harmon spoke, with certitude, that no matter the outcome of congress, he cannot be removed as Leader of the Opposition. 
The people voted overwhelmingly in favor of Aubrey Norton. But Harmon maintained he could not be removed as Opposition Leader.
However, after the public pronouncements and missives proclaiming his right to the chair, Harmon resigned. But he continued to demonstrate his willingness to remain an active politician. With his resignation as Leader, Harmon said that he will remain a Member of Parliament. But he subsequently registered his intention—with the Speaker of the House—to resign from Parliament entirely.
Resignations are often used to save face. But quitting after fighting publicly for the job doesn’t seem to do much on that front.
Essentially, Harmon’s rejection by his own people was done in a very public way.
It must be noted that the Harmon debacle is more intricate than an outsider may imagine.
How did he move from having Aubrey Norton as his campaign manager in 2018’s congress to communicating with his new leader via public missives in 2022? While there were some commonalities in the responses, many seem to have their own core reasons for Harmon’s fate.
Harmon’s swift fall from grace has been explained by various persons within and close to the PNCR with stories ranging from him working against party members or affiliates who reached out for help in legal matters relating to properties to him being a victim, a fall guy for the APNU+AFC’s loss of political power. Guyana Standard has not been able to verify the veracity of the various versions. But these are the opinions of the many PNCR rank-and-file.
Some seem to believe that Harmon is the whipping boy for those who seek reparations over the return of PPP. Those who subscribe to such beliefs are of the opinion that Granger, and by extension, Harmon “allowed” PPP to take Office. They believe that Harmon and Granger erred by not swearing in the “rightful President” when they had the opportunity to do so.
Others believe that the distrust of party members, which is a product of Harmon’s own doing, is what caused him to lose favor. While, others believe that Harmon’s failure to transition from a sponsored politician into a grounded politician is the main cause for his downfall.
However, the overarching response was that Harmon’s closeness to Granger— who was described as “the most maligned ex-leader among his constituents in modern Guyanese politics”—did not bode well for Harmon’s ambitions.
Most of the persons who contributed to this article did so on the ground of anonymity but political analyst, Dr. David Hinds spoke on the record.
Dr. Hinds said Harmon’s resignation has to be seen in the context of the APNU+AFC loss of power. He said the fallout from that development has not abated “as the Coalition has not, for unknown reasons, sat down and engaged in any serious analysis of what happened.”
Dr. Hinds said that the finger-pointing and apportioning of blame have been quite intense within the PNCR. He added that the fact that the top leadership did not step aside immediately after the loss of government contributed to the toxic atmosphere in the party.
Dr. Hinds also believes that PNCR’s inability to mount any serious and sustained opposition to the PPP’s “aggression” is both a cause and effect of the stalemate within the party.
He said, “It is against that background one must view Harmon’s withdrawal as Leader of the Opposition and now his resignation as an MP. While he has apparently resigned by choice, in a real sense, he was pushed out by the sheer force of the toxic stalemate within the party. He is a casualty of the political blood-letting that occurs when a party loses power in the circumstances which forced the Coalition out of office.” 
Dr. Hinds stated that Harmon, either naively or out of loyalty, took up the mantle as surrogate for the leader. “That was always going to work against him, for in this instance, the leader wrongly or rightly is seen as the root cause of the loss of power. He (Granger) has been characterized as weak, autocratic and aloof depending on who you talk to. He is perhaps the most maligned ex-leader among his constituents in modern Guyanese politics.”
Dr. Hinds said the fact that Granger appointed Harmon as Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition while sidelining senior PNCR members placed Harmon in a very untenable situation. Harmon became the whipping boy for Granger’s detractors. This meant he was Leader without support from the full party leadership. “It would not be out of place to conclude that he and his cadre of MP’s were undermined from inside. Harmon, therefore, lacked the political firepower needed for that delicate assignment. In the end he appeared lackluster, often bereft of the bite and focus needed to mount an effective opposition to an aggressive government,” said Dr. Hinds.
Another factor that “has served to bring down Harmon” as articulated by Dr. Hinds, was his “unwise decision to challenge Aubrey Norton for the party’s leadership. He badly misread the mood of the party and the base. He did not understand the extent to which the party faithful had become disenchanted with him.”
But even after the loss at Congress, some believe that Harmon’s haughty attitude worked against him as he took the stance of publicly declaring his right to remain opposition leader. Instead of accommodating discourse with the new leader.
Dr. Hinds said if Harmon had moved swiftly to an accommodation with Norton in the post-Congress period, he may have been able to avoid his fate.
While Dr. Hinds thinks that much of the fallout with Harmon came about in the post-No-Confidence era—2018 and after—others say differently. This publication was told that the rank-and-file members started to grow tired of the “army boys” a long time ago. In fact, it was pointed out that in August 2018, before the Bharrat Jagdeo-sponsored no-confidence motion was even filed against the APNU+AFC government, Volda Lawrence “flattened” Harmon when he competed against her for the PNCR chairmanship. “That is a clear indication that, since then, Harmon was not a favorite amongst us.”
In 2015, the letter pages of local newspapers reflected that Harmon’s popularity took a hit after his infamous “no apology” statement in response to concerns about the APNU+AFC government’s 50 percent salary soon after assuming office.
One former PNCR member said that comment demonstrated Harmon’s impaired ability to effectively communicate with his people. “Old people like to use the term, throw dust in my eye, Harmon could have easily thrown some dust in Guyanese eyes. He could have reasoned with the populace via the media. But he chose to show disregard for the concern of the masses. That comment set the tone for the rest of his time in office.”
Soon after, Harmon was pictured on a private jet flanked by Chinese nationals attached to Bai Shan Lin, a company that Harmon had heavily criticized pre-2015. That too did not go down well with supporters.
Another account given by a PNCR stalwart is that “Harmon has proven himself an asset to the party, he is very a good networker and can raise money. He worked well alongside David since they came to the front in 2010. But Harmon soon became someone that many ordinary party members have come to distrust. There were many claims of unreliability made by those who visited his law office for help.
They believe that he was crookish. People lost assets and he seemed to benefit. And then he just seems to get involved in everything. We do not know to what extent David pushed him but he was involved in everything.”
This publication spoke to another very senior and longstanding member of the PNCR who refrained from delving into details but said, “There are two types of politicians: sponsored and grounded. Harmon was sponsored. Unless sponsored politicians see to transform themselves to grounded politicians they can fade when the sponsor goes off the scene. Jagdeo is an example of a sponsored politician who transitioned to a grounded politician.
Harmon failed in that regard. Although he sought to gain favour of the grassroots, he failed since he never really grounded/rubbed shoulders. He was never seen by the grassroots as one of them, rather his association distanced him from them.”
One might deduce that the association to which that member referred may be the same people referenced by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on many occasions, “rich Indian businessmen ”/ contractors. It was rumored that Harmon benefited tremendously from his “associations.”
It is hard, at this point, to predict what is next for Harmon. As Jagdeo had told the press in 2018 when he brought the no-confidence motion, “nothing is impossible in politics and in parliament. Depending on the depth of his desire to remain an active politician, Harmon may very well decide to join the Norton train and work to, for now, mount strong opposition against the PPP. Or, he may decide to bow out gracefully.
Dr. Hinds told Guyana Standard, “the unfortunate thing about Harmon’s fall is that he has a lot to offer at the top leadership level. He is perhaps the most Pro-Coalition of all the PNC leaders. He appears to be a good manager and he is not a weak leader. He only appeared weak because he was given a basket by the leader to fetch water.”
