when he announced his membership at the NDP at a rally last Saturday. Pakittow who is known as an activist blames President Santokhi for the bad policy that was implemented and he also blames him for the trauma and losses that he endured after the violent protest of February 17, 2023. The protest that was organized by Biervliet that day quickly turned into chaos as people started raiding and starting fires in the inner city of  Paramaribo. Stores were looted and the Parliament was pelted with bricks. Biervliet repeatedly insisted that he wasn’t responsible for the violence and claimed that anoth-er group hijacked the protest. He also claimed that he was forced to claim responsibility for the events that took place that day.

President Santokhi who is also the chairman of the ruling VHP party blames  Biervliet for the events of February 17 and revealed that he supported the legal proceedings against Biervliet. Biervliet made it clear that he does not trust the judiciary and claimed that he had to pay SRD 1.5 million to cover the damage. He revealed that before he joined the NDP, he and the members of the NDP agreed to chase Santokhi out of the political arena. “We must chase Chandrikapersad Santokhi away,” said Pakittow dur-ing his maiden speech on stage in the headquarters of the NDP. It would seem that Pakittow’s decision to join the NDP is not only driven by his political ambitions but also by his personal vendetta against the current president.