Dear Editor,
Yesterday (Thursday), filing in the United States under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by the Law firm JJ&B. LLC, that clearly state they had been hired by the Government of Guyana; the documents were signed by Joseph Harmon, Director-General of the Ministry of the Presidency.
Today (Friday), the Ministry of the Presidency issued a statement noting “much concern” about what it says are erroneous statements in the media based on the JJ&B LLC FARA declarations. The release stated quite clearly that President Granger, who is still the legal Head-of-State, was not involved in any way with the hiring of the lobbying firm.
There are three possible reasons why the media, and consequently the people of Guyana, were misled: One, Joseph Harmon did not sign those authorization papers and JJ&B LLC has made a false FARA declaration; this is not without precedent. On January 17, 2019, the Department of Justice announced that it had reached a settlement with a law firm over the failure to properly register and report under FARA. The company which was not named was fined US$4.6 million.
Two, Joseph Harmon did sign those documents, but did so in his capacity as a private citizen, and misrepresented the capacity in which he was acting to JJ&B LLC.
Three, Joseph Harmon did sign those documents in his capacity as Director-General of the Ministry of the Presidency without the authorization of his employer, President Granger.
In all three possible scenarios, there is one common thread and person. Granger will have to decide on how he treats with Joe Harmon, his employee, a political appointee and the General Secretary of APNU.
In the meanwhile, I would like to express my resentment for the tone shown by the Ministry’s release, which seeks to castigate the media and others for a predicament caused entirely by its own Director-General.
May I suggest that President Granger borrow the dictionary he publicly gifted to the GPA head, Nazima Ragubir, and open it to ‘B’ and look up the word blame, and then H.E can apply it appropriately.
