Ramayya quits WIN party; cites harassment, sidelining

Alleging that he was being harassed and lied about by members of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) political party, Berbician Dr Veersammy Ramayya said he has no apology to make as he announced his resignation from the party headed by US-sanctioned businessman Azruddin Mohamed.
Ramayya made the declaration during a social media live video posted on his page on Wednesday evening.
“I feel that I am not comfortable with the way that I was treated. People (sic) within the WIN delegation sent voice notes. They cursed me and cursed my mother and everybody [in my family],” Ramayya revealed.

“I am not going to apologise for leaving the WIN party and have no intention to affiliate myself with any party at this stage. Because instead of getting thank you, I’m getting a bad name for not saying things.”
Ramayya insinuated that the harassment was as a result of his refusal to disparage President Dr Irfaan Ali and the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
“I know President Ali from 2011 in Parliament he was very kind and good to me. In fact, all of them in the PPP camp were kind to me. He [President Ali] offered me his house, he offered me a place to stay. He said here are the keys. So how can I be ungrateful? He’s the President,” Ramayya explained.
According to Ramayya, he was being purposely sidelined within the party, noting that he was not informed when the party opened its office at Whim, Berbice, and he was also not invited to the party’s Nomination Day activities on Monday.
“A few weeks ago I pledged my support to the WIN party, because of the things he was doing [however]… without any apology I will not continue or function in any political party. I don’t want to be a victim of any movement,” he said.
Ramayya was originally a member of the Alliance For Change (AFC) political party, where he served as a Member of Parliament and subsequently served as the Regional Executive Officer (REO) of Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), under the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)/AFC coalition government.
He resigned from the REO position in 2016.
He later threw his support behind the PPP/C, and served as Coordinator for the Region Six Rapid Response Taskforce, resigning from that position earlier this year. He subsequently joined the WIN party.
In 2024, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had announced that it sanctioned Nazar Mohamed and his son, Azruddin Mohamed, several of their companies, and a Guyanese Government official, Mae Thomas, for their roles in alleged public corruption in Guyana.
According to a statement from OFAC, this is related to the evasion of taxes on gold exports, noting that between 2019 and 2023, Mohamed’s Enterprise omitted more than 10 thousand kilograms (kg) of gold from import and export declarations and avoided paying more than US$50 million in duty taxes to the Government of Guyana.
In a Reuters article published on July 14, 2023, it was revealed that the family is under investigation by several US agencies – including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security. Citing five sources with direct knowledge of the matter, Reuters reported that the Mohameds are suspected of smuggling both Colombian cocaine and Venezuelan gold to international markets. Further, an intelligence report referenced in the investigation suggested that they may also be involved in laundering money for drug traffickers and criminal organisations, including sanctioned Russian nationals operating in the region.