Mohamed’s prisoner’s dilemma

592 GUARDIAN♦ACCOUNTABILITY♦INTEGRITY IN JOURNALISM♦GUYANA

Mohamed’s prisoner’s dilemma

OPINION BY : GHK LALL October 2026

Azruddin Mohamed, Guyana’s Opposition Leader, has a problem. It’s not game theory. It’s the prisoner’s dilemma. Who to look out for, when number one is under the gun? Literally. For those Guyanese who already smell a PPP Govt conspiracy, keep on smelling. The situation is ripe. Rife with danger for Guyana’s Opp Leader. Breathe deeply. Wrap mind around this fact set.

One gun. Three men. Some ammo. Somebody is in trouble. One unlicensed gun represents many years in the slammer. Governments have done worse to the political opponents that they fear, in whom they recognize a mortal threat. So, I am back to three men behind bars. All three couldn’t have fired one gun at the same time. One will not confess, even if he is responsible for the gun.

Would be the best outcome for the other two, but that’s not happening. Just can’t. Otherwise, he might as well write himself off. But there are two other men, and this is where the links in the chain could break down. I’m back to the prisoner’s dilemma.

Separation and isolation. Pressure applied. Turn them against one another. Make them believe the worst of each other. Sellout. Saving own skin. Penalties mentioned and repeated for reinforcement. The stakes are high. Why be a hero? It’s the penitentiary treatise on divide and diminish. Then divide and rule. Then collect the spoils. Call it whatever pleases. Coercion. Psychological duress. Who has time for such fineries, especially in a jail? The idea is to put the prisoners against each other, and watch to see which one cracks first. One crack, and implosion.

The Opposition Leader is now the last man standing, and he is at his most vulnerable. No friends. No allies. No law in his corner. No comrades in arms. Sorry, wrong choice of words.

The gun is his. According to his imprisoned companions. In the right hands, with a specific object in mind, ballistics can be tweaked, can be gamed, can be made to produce whatever connection is desired. Opposition Leader Mohamed’s situation just went from grim to grimmer. Recall the long list of PPP Govt distortions to bring down those who stand in its way, and ballistics manipulations become child’s play. In this country, handwriting experts have generated skepticisms, postmortems have come under fire, and now ballistics enter the picture. It could be the make-or-break contributor that is hailed as an expert witness, or an impostor.

With that background, I call on Guyanese to be realistic. Check how far the PPP Govt has gone, and succeeds in neutralizing those that thwart its well-laid plans. When the PPP Govt can influence the U.S. government (I scorn denials) to review the visa of a sitting High Court judge of Guyana, then think of how much influence it can bring to the Guyana Police Force, now firmly in its grasp.

Having so said, what are the government’s primary objectives in the developing Mohamed witness intimidation issue? Keep him out of circulation. Keep him in jail. No circulation, neither corruption exposures nor election threat. In short, no bail. Revocation of his extradition bail leave. Mohamed’s WIN party hasn’t shown itself to be expansive beyond he and a few others. Disconnect the head. The body crumbles, even the tail goes.

To complete the circle, to give himself a guarantee, (and not coincidentally), there was the PPP General Secretary at Robert Corbin’s solemnities. He did the unthinkable. Said the unsayable.

The PPP and PNC must stop burying the hatchet in each other’s head. Unsaid was that threat on the horizon that, if given leeway, would bury both the PPP and PNC. Extinction was Jagdeo’s word. Mohamed and WIN represent that extinction threat.

Therefore, whatever has to be done (prisoner’s dilemma, tainted ballistics, [whatever]) just do it. I see Mohamed as the loser. The PPP as the winner, given Jagdeo’s gambit. The PNC richer (and safer for now).