Latest update March 27th, 2026 12:40 AM
WIN complains to UN, CARICOM over closure of candidates’ accounts by local banks
WIN General Secretary, Odessa Primus
Kaieteur News – We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) has written to the United Nations (UN) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) seeking their intervention into the closure of the accounts of the party’s candidates by local commercial banks.
In two separate letters, WIN outlined that its members are subject to political discrimination in Guyana. The party is led by Azruddin Mohamed, a businessman who was sanctioned in June 2024 by the United States Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Following the publication of WIN’s List of Candidates in July, local financial institutions, cut ties with the members of WIN and some had cited the OFAC sanctions on Mohamed as a reason for the decision.
The party complained to the UN of “political persecution” citing the closure of bank accounts, cancellation of loans, and denial of financial services to its members and candidates by several leading banks in Guyana. The party named the Bank of Nova Scotia, the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI), the New Building Society (NBS), and Demerara Bank Limited (DBL). WIN claimed that the actions of the aforementioned have no legal or regulatory basis and amount to discrimination solely on the grounds of political affiliation.
“These banks have weaponised financial services against ordinary citizens…teachers who served faithfully for decades can no longer access their salaries. Candidates chosen by the people have been stripped of their accounts. Small business owners, including single mothers, are being forced into dangerous cash-only survival,” the party stated in the letter.
WIN emphasised that the closures are not only unjust but violate international law., and highlighted that Guyana is bound by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Articles 2 and 7) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Articles 25 and 26), which guarantee freedom from discrimination and the right to participate fully in political life.
“This is not only about bank accounts…it is about freedom itself. When a teacher cannot collect her salary, when a mother risks her safety to run a business, when a candidate loses honest work for belonging to a political party, democracy itself is wounded,” the party said.
WIN called on the international body to publicly condemn discriminatory practices, demand the immediate reinstatement of all affected accounts, ensure the government and financial institutions end political discrimination, deploy observers to investigate and provide alternative financial access until rights are fully restored. In its letter to CARICOM, WIN made a similar appeal highlighting systematic political discrimination by major banks in Guyana against its members and candidates. The party outlined that these actions violate international and regional commitments, including CARICOM Charter of Civil Society (1997), which guarantees political rights and non-discrimination for citizens of member states. WIN also called on CARICOM to condemn and investigate. The party also pledged to continue raising this issue locally, regionally, and internationally until justice is secured.
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