PPPC PM candidate Harper condemns Health Minister’s abuse of female rights activist

Last Updated on Wednesday, 22 April 2015, 16:15 by GxMedia

PPPC Prime Ministerial Candidate Elisabeth Harper and Education Minister Priya Manickchand

The People’s Progressive Party Civic’s (PPPC) Prime Ministerial candidate, Elisabeth Harper on Wednesday condemned Health Minister Bheri Ramsaran’s verbal attack on opposition rights activist, Sherlena Nageer earlier this week.

Harper called Ramsaran’s description of Nageer as a “little piece of shit” and someone whom he considered slapping for fun and arranging for some of his women to strip as “unacceptable and an affront to women.”

“I condemn his utterances in the strongest possible manner. It is yet another example of how much more needs to be done in ensuring that women are treated with respect and dignity especially by the exemplars of our society,” she said in a statement.

President Donald Ramotar was later asked at the Marriott Hotel whether he would ask the Health Minister to resign, but he refused to offer a constructive response one way or the other.

Harper’s condemnation came one day after the Health Minister apologized to Nageer, saying that he had been provoked by her while talking with media workers.

In the recording Nageer is heard repeatedly asking Ramsaran what he was doing outside the Whim Magistrates’ Court during the hearing of a private criminal charge against Former President Bharrat Jagdeo by government critic Christopher Ram. She suggested that he was wasting taxpayers’ money while women and babies were dying in hospital.

Eventually, the Health Minister told her “F-off” and urged her to remove from in front of him.

Harper said “This incident is not an isolated case; it is symptomatic of the way our society can still be at times despite the huge strides we have made in advancing the rights of women.

It reinforces my own personal intention and commitment to championing the cause of the vulnerable in our society.”