PNC leaves Bond disillusioned

ATTORNEY-AT-LAW JAMES BOND ONCE GAVE HIS BACK for the electoral causes of
the main opposition Peoples National Congress (PNC). Almost a decade later, he vowed he will
“not (be) throwing out my belly” for the same party.
What changed?
Bond, in a recent social media post, provided a hint.
“…Before, you find people would call you do to do everything and anything, and you are like ‘I
am there’. You give people, negative people, your energy. You give people who don’t care about
you your energy. I am not going to do that anymore. There is nobody who can call and say,
‘James Bond go here or go there’” the outspoken young lawyer said.
Without naming names, Bond said matter-of-factly in his social media commentary, “I am not
going to throw my belly out for no waste man. I am not going to.”
Bond was among 11 persons ranks of the Guyana Police Force shot with rubber bullets early
December 2011 when they gathered in the capital to demand the Guyana Elections Commissions
(GECOM) verify statements of poll (SOP) for the elections of that year.
Others shot and later treated at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for injuries
and sent away were: 75-year-old Sarah Johnson; former PNC legislator, Ms. Joan Baveghems;
former Army Chief, Brigadier Edward Collins; Mr. Brentnol Holder; Mr. Neil Mattis and his 10-
year-old son, Johnny Mattis; Ms. Lurlene Nestor and Laurine Mingo.
For Bond, back then he offered blind support.
Not this time.
The party has to earn it.

“You got to show me that brand of leadership that I could actually throw my belly out because
when you are in your struggles, that’s the problem that I had. For 10 years you give and do for
the party and you do for people. You do for the leaders, they call you and you go work. You do
this, you do that but when you in your lil jam, when you in your stories you don’t get anything
from these guys,” Bond reminisced.
“These guys don’t give you no mercy, no support. You protest for these guys, you march for
these guys, you bleed for these guys. So, if you are not going to be giving me that energy when I
need you, I don’t see me giving you that energy any more. The people who ride with me I will
ride for them” he declared.
Since the party’s electoral defeat last year, the atmosphere at Congress Place has shifted, much to
the pleasure of attorney Bond.
“At the end of the day it needs that kind of shake up. It needs it so that it can come back fresh,
rejuvenated, revitalized,” counselled Bond who publicly backs former public health minister and
party Chairperson, Mrs. Volda Lawrence’s candidacy if she makes herself available for
leadership of the 64-year old party.
“I aint get no horse in the race. Whoever wins, wins. I aint…stifling my conscience, there are
certain people in the PNC could never be my leader. It might be a strange thing to say, but they
can never lead me. I know that they are not for people…(but) for themselves. When you talk
about really caring for people…who will die for people I don’t see it in them. If you are not for
people you are not ready for politics,” Bond declared.