Charrandass Persaud, the man who caused the collapse of the APNU+AFC Coalition Government by voting in favour of the No-Confidence motion, says being a “yes” man in Parliament made him “mentally unstable” and that the Government almost drove him “crazy.”
Persaud, who has since fled to Canada, released a video, over 20-minutes long on Christmas Day on his Facebook page, detailing the reasons he defected from the Government’s side and voting in favour of the Opposition motion.
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has 32 seats in the House; the Government, with Persaud, has 33. When the vote was called, the Government was stunned when Persaud defected and voted in favour of the motion, forcing the Government to call elections in three months.
“My position as it was then, as a Member of Parliament, it wasn’t a shaky one; it was one where I was, myself very unstable, mentally. I took so much from the Government that it almost drove me crazy. I was a “yes” man.
“I worked very hard to put the Government in place, by supporting the AFC, campaigning for the AFC,” Persaud, who has since been expelled from the AFC, said.
He strongly denied accepting payment from the PPP for his vote and maintained that he was frustrated with the way the Coalition Government managed the country since its three years in office.
“…they said I was paid $500M. I am in Canada right now. Could I have brought $500M with me to Canada?
“I have a few thousand Guyana money, yes. Even if I was paid, was it wrong to support the No-Confidence motion against the Government?
“Many other MPs [Members of Parliament] wanted to remove the Government. They did not have the audacity to stand up and say yes, we want to remove the Government,” Persaud, an Attorney-at-Law, said.
He admitted that his decision to vote in favour of the motion was not done overnight and maintained it was for the good of Guyana.
“What I did was out of concern for the people of Guyana.
“My hands were tied, my mouth was gagged, I couldn’t do anything.
“This move wasn’t something I had picked up overnight. I had it planned quickly. The security that took me out of there was not Khemraj Ramjattan’s police. Not at all.”
Following the historic vote, Persaud was escorted out of the back entrance of the Parliament by known PPP supporter Peter Ramsaroop and another unidentified male.
“I’ll tell you now, I did not leave Guyana from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport. I left from the Ogle Airport on a LIAT flight to Barbados,” Persaud clarified.
Threats to his life
Persaud said he was threatened when he voted “yes” and has already informed his family and friends that if anything happens to him, the APNU and AFC should be held responsible.
“If I am to die…I will die because somebody from the APNU+AFC, who is not too comfortable with being out of Parliament now will set up a killing or a chopping or something to cause me to die.
“That is so obvious.
“You’re not killers, yet you swore at me, elbowed me in Parliament,” Persaud said.
He chastised the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs for stopping the process when he voted “yes” giving the Government MPs time to bully him.
“The amount of abuse… Volda Lawrence [said] ‘what the so and so effing so and so you doing Charran? Say no no no.’
“My good friend to my left, the rasta boy from Linden, Jermaine Figueira elbowed me in the ribs and if he is denying he did that, the cameras will not lie and he was swearing at me.
“I don’t wanna die. I didn’t plan on dying. I simply wanted to remove the Government. Was I supposed to die for that?” Persaud said.
Reasons for defecting
Among his reasons he cited for defecting were the closure of the sugar estates which put thousands of workers out of jobs, the appointment of Noel Holder as Minister of Agriculture, the lack of proper health care under Minister Volda Lawrence and no job creation.
Persaud was also highly upset after he was made to vote in the National Assembly in
“Young people: What is in this country for you? What is in Guyana for you? What is it the APNU+AFC has given you, youngsters? I see nothing,” Persaud said in his video statement.
He said he was helpless and could not do anything for his people in Regions 5 and 6.
“The work that I set out to do after realizing that I was so helpless and couldn’t do anything for the people in Regions 5 and 6 and Guyana generally, I realised I had to do something to take this Government out.”
The AFC has since expelled Persaud from the Party and is taking steps to replace him in the National Assembly.
