Ed Ahmad

NEW YORK TIMES REPORT: For years, a self-made real estate magnate named Edul Ahmad personified the collective dreams of Richmond Hill, Queens, which is populated by many immigrants from Guyana, in South America. Mr. Ahmad drove a yellow Lamborghini, sponsored a cricket team and held white-glove parties at a lavish banquet hall that he owned.

At a prominent intersection near the border of Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park, his smiling face looked down from a large billboard that promoted his real estate services. Many residents responded, taking out high-risk mortgages that they were told they could readily afford.

In July, it all came crashing down. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Mr. Ahmad, charging him with masterminding a $50 million mortgage fraud that seemed to exemplify a nationwide phenomenon of celebrated immigrant brokers who were accused of preying on their own.

Now, scores, if not hundreds, of Guyanese immigrants are facing financial ruin because of loans said to have been arranged by Mr. Ahmad, and the repercussions from the case have extended from Queens to Washington to Guyana.

Mr. Ahmad is currently engaged in intensive plea-bargain negotiations with federal prosecutors, according to court documents, but it appears that the impact of the loans will endure for years. Richmond Hill has been hit harder by the foreclosure crisis than most other neighborhoods in the city, officials and analysts said.

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Moses Nagamootoo

The following Facebook post by CGID President Rickford Burke drew the ire of AFC candidate for speaker of the Guyanese Parliament Moses Nagamootoo and led to an eruption of fireworks between the two, sending party leaders scampering to “call off the dogs.”

“AFC’s DEMAND TO BE SPEAKER OF THE GUYANESE PARLIAMENT IS IRRATIONAL: The new Parliament will be constituted as follows: PPP-32 seats; APNU-26 seats; ACF-7 seats. The combined opposition has 33 seats rendering the PPP a minority government. I understand that the AFC, which only has 7 of 65 seats, is demanding the Speakership. Apparently, they are holding a coercive gun at the APNU and are threatening to blow up the agreed opposition agenda if they don’t get the Speakership. In effect they not support the APNU’ candidate; indirectly cooperating with the PPP thereby guaranteeing a PPP Speaker. Well, if this is how they want to roll, let them go right ahead! I have many friends in the AFC whom I love & respect. But their crackpot demand and attempted blackmail is preposterous and irresponsible. They did not join the APNU but now demand APNU support, “or else.” What is even more unacceptable is their alleged choice for Speaker. Rumor is rife that they are proposing Moses Nagamootoo for Speaker. If this is true, I firmly oppose it and hope APNU will reject it out of hand. No one should trust Nagamootoo at this juncture. APNU had better not fall into this trap or we, its ardent supporters, will hold them to account. I support a APNU Speaker and an AFC Deputy Speaker, nothing less!”

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APNU Chairman David Granger

APNU Leader David Granger says that his party remains committed to negotiating with the AFC over the position of Speaker in the National Assembly, but says that the opposition coalition does not feel that the AFC nominee Moses Nagamootoo would be the best person for the job.

Granger said that the coalition has put forward two nominees in Deborah Backer and Bishwaishwar `Cammie’ Ramsaroop for the post and was sticking by them.  He said that the negotiations between APNU and the AFC were ongoing and added that the parties hoped to settle on the issue soon.  APNU, he said, was committed to reaching consensus on the matter with the AFC and ruled out seeking the support of the PPP/C on the matter.

Aubrey Norton

Patrick Manning, Aubrey Norton and one man rule

DECEMBER 22, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER FEATURES / COLUMNISTS, FREDDIE KISSOON

The CARICOM islands have parliamentary elections every four years (like in the US). After two years in power, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago decided he would call a national poll two years before it was due. Nothing exigent was facing Manning; nothing shocking was occurring at the time in Trinidad. A few experts explained that Manning was experiencing a psychic transformation in which strange religious windmills were tilting in his mind (we all have windmills in our mind but not the type that Manning had).
Others said that some mystical priest had taken over the consciousness of the then PM of Trinidad and Tobago and he had submitted himself to that personality. Reminds one of Tsarina Alexandria in Russia whose son was sick. A shady, religious monk, Rasputin, promised the Tsarina to heal him and in the process took undue control of the Russian queen (see the Christopher Lee movie, “Rasputin”).
Anyway, Manning held his early election and not a human being in his party, People’s National Movement (PNM), could have stopped him.

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