It is not against the laws of Guyana to hire lobbyists to influence foreign governments nor is it against the laws of the US for such hired lobbyists to operate in their country. However, they are required to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and the particulars be made part of the public record. As such, when the PPP announced they had hired the US lobbying firm Mercury Public Affairs last year, there were no raised eyebrows about the latter’s promise to set up meetings and provide information on Guyana to members of the US Executive and members of Congress. But when it was revealed that APNU/AFC had done the same on March 31 of this year with the firm JJ&B LLC, the repercussions were explosive.
Of note was that the coalition did not of its own volition announce that it was hiring lobbyists in Washington, this was revealed when the public record was consulted and red flags raised through some of the information contained in the registration of a 147-page “Dossier” on “Guyana Elections 2020” that was given to the lobbyists and purported to supply information on the present Guyana political situation, where results of the elections of March 2 were still pending. Foreign observers had uniformly denounced the actions of GECOM that violated the standard operating procedures to deliver the result for the Region 4 votes that were intended to skew the results to favour the APNU/AFC coalition.
The first subversive piece of information was that the Government of Guyana was listed as the client that had hired JJ&B, with Joseph Harmon of the Ministry of the Presidency listed as the contact. The firm would contact “officials of the executive and legislative branches of the US Government in order to seek resolution of disputes regarding Guyana’s recent presidential election, and in order to improve relations between Guyana and the United States.” In terms of fees, the contract noted, “we will provide services on a monthly basis, as requested, in return for an initial retainer of $40,000 for the month of April.” Four other payments were detailed of US$8000 each. The Opposition PPP immediately pointed out the anomaly of the Government of Guyana using public funds to pay for services which were actually on behalf of the coalition of parties that had contested the elections as APNU/AFC.
Joseph Harmon, the then Director General of the MotP, however, denied this and asserted: “I would say to you that this is not funds that have been from the Government. We have supporters around the world who are very incensed, who are upset that this kind of narrative continues to be perpetuated on a daily basis and have come to say ‘what can we do to help?’, and our supporters and friends abroad have come together…(and)… are paying for this. No money is coming from the Government treasury.”
Harmon also claimed that the dossier had been prepared months before and presented to a delegation of Caricom Prime Ministers from Barbados, Dominica, Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines last year. The claim, however, that the GoG had hired the lobbyist was stoutly denied by no other than Caretaker President David Granger, who was listed in the dossier as a “US citizen” along with Joseph Harmon. Granger also denied that he was a US citizen.
One matter arising from the revealed lobbyists’ documents certainly cannot be swept under the carpet as is happening under cover of the elections crisis created by the APNU/AFC coalition and also the COVID-19 crisis. This would be clear proof provided by both Joseph Harmon and David Granger that they are not US citizens. It was only last year that it was conclusively pronounced by the Judiciary that dual citizens cannot contest elections for the National Assembly and both gentlemen, in fact, were candidates for APNU/AFC.
Both individuals are still vying for public offices and the public needs definitive proof of their bona fides to occupy such offices.
