Norton, Ramjattan among opposition parliamentarians calling for international conference on anti-African racial discrimination in Guyana

Last Updated on Thursday, 24 November 2022, 9:32 by Denis Chabrol

Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton and Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Khemraj Ramjattan are among several prominent politicians, trade unionists and community activists in Guyana and the Diaspora who are calling for an international mediation to address alleged discrimination against African Guyanese and opponents of the governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

“We, the undersigned, hereby call on the United States Government, the US Congress and Congressional Black Caucus, CARICOM Heads of Government, the ABCE Countries, the United Nations, Commonwealth, Organization of American States, African Union and all African Heads of Governments (to address) the untenable crisis of racism and corruption in Guyana. We propose an urgent Washington DC conference on Guyana’s future to ventilate and resolve the matters laid out herein,” they said in a statement dated November 9, 2022.  That statement, which listed several grievances, was attached to a November 17 letter by the Secretary of  the little-known Institute for Action Against Discrimination, Lelon Saul to United States Vice President Kamala Harris  for her to “influence the requisite changes” in Guyana.

The Guyana government had previously refused to hold political talks with the opposition unless it recognised it as the legitimately elected government in the March 2020 elections. The opposition continues to maintain that the PPP rigged its way to power through voter impersonation and other forms of rigging, charges the incumbent party have denied and called for proof.

However, Prime Minister Mark Phillips has sought to debunk  claims of discrimination and warning of civil unrest. He described Mr Saul’s request as the work of a number of “delusional” persons.  “Since the letter is addressed to a United States (U.S)  Representative, one can only conclude that the author is under the illusion that using false claims will trigger a U.S. intrusion into the affairs of a democratic sovereign state such as Guyana,” Mr Phillips said.

The mostly Afro-Guyanese signatories contended that the PPP government is opposed to leveling the playing field by facilitating opportunities for equitable access to resources for all citizens. counter unemployment and reduce corruption. The call for an international dialogue on Guyana, the signatories said, was needed because the governing mainly Indo-Guyanese backed People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has refused to hold talks with Afro-Guyanese leaders on resolving deep-seated problems. “The PPP government has refused to
meet with the collective leadership of the African Guyanese and other communities, as well as the parliamentary opposition to resolve these concerns and to construct a consensus agenda for inclusive governance and the development of Guyana. They are a one seat majority government, governing like an apartheid dictatorship,” they said.

Other signatories to the November 9 statement include People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Vice Chairman and parliamentarian Vinceroy Jordan, PNCR Chairman and parliamentarian Shurwayne Holder, as well as other opposition parliamentarians- Christopher Jones, Coretta Mc Donald, Roysdale Forde, Nima Flue-Bess, Ganesh Mahipaul, Amanza Walton- Desir, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley and Deonarine Ramsaroop- as well as politician Tacuma Ogunseye, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice) Chairman Deron Adams, Georgetown Mayor Ubraj Narine, Attorneys-at-Law Dawn Cush and Darren Wade,; trade unionists Leslie Gonsalves,  Lincoln Lewis and John Tull, Chief Executive Officer of the International Decade for People of African Descent-Guyana Olive Sampson and political and civil society activist Nigel Hinds.  More than 25 community leaders and representatives of a number of People’s National Congress Reform and A Partnership for National Unity groups in the Diaspora also signed the statement.

They alleged that  the PPP was perpetrating widespread discrimination against African Guyanese and opponents by misusing the police force, confiscating lands, pressuring the private sector not to advertise on media that are perceived as opponents, violation of the constitutional right to collective bargaining between unions and the government, arrest and harassment of political talk show hosts and activists in Guyana and the Diaspora in clear violation of freedom of expression, use of the Cyber crime Act to prosecute and shutdown whistleblowers, extra-judicial killings, expulsion and deportation of Haitians while welcoming immigrants from Southern Asia, Cuba, China and Venezuela, and the discrimination in the allocation of cash grants to mainly Indo-Guyanese constituencies.

The signatories said those acts of discrimination amount to lip-service of a racial unity agenda by President Irfaan Ali. “President Irfaan Ali boldly attempts to sell the “One Guyana” mantra amidst blatant injustices and racist, triumphalist policies, and practices, particularly in the criminal justice system, which relegates African Guyanese and opposition supporters generally to second-class citizenship while inciting resentment and racial hostilities,” they said.

The also accused the government of withholding of funds and contracts  to organisations and local government districts that are perceived as non-compliant to the government. “The government is deliberately withholding taxpayer’s funds from the capital City – Georgetown,
other historical African Guyanese villages, towns, local government councils and Regions, which it does not govern and which are populated with opposition supporters. This abomination cannot be tolerated. All Guyanese must benefit equally from the resources of our country,” the group of concerned persons said. The government recently reduced the subsidy to the International Decade for People of African Descent-Guyana, and has openly said that it would be working with the people instead of the Neighbourhood Councils.

Mr Saul, in his covering letter for the statement, said there was evidence that the Guyana government was cultivating the conditions for violent  political upheaval. “We believe that the Government is deliberately setting the stage for civil unrest, an occurrence that may only serve to compromise our fledgling democracy and create chaos and loss of innocent lives,” he said.

But the Prime Minister slammed Mr Saul’s missive to the US Vice President, saying it contained “incredibly fraudulent and misleading statements that the Government is pushing Guyana to the ‘brink of civil unrest’”.  He accused the PNCR-led coalition of A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) of stoking unrest to destabilising the incumbent government. “The APNU+AFC cabal and affiliated groups continue with desperate attempts at race-baiting which they hope will incite civil unrest against the democratically elected People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government and end the tremendous benefits being experienced by all Guyanese,” he said.

Mr Phillips provided statistics in an effort to disprove the opposition’s claims of discrimination against Afro-Guyanese, saying that more than 50 percent of the over 11,000  house-lots allocated from 2020 to date have gone to Afro-Guyanese and payments made to sugar industry workers have seen 20 percent going to Afro-Guyanese.

Instead, he accused leaders in the APNU+AFC of continuing to push for civil unrest through attacks on the media, physically blockading Government officials from engaging with whole communities, unruly behavior in the National Assembly, and adopting a confrontational approach to the President when there should be discussions on key national issues.

According to the Prime Minister, Mr Saul was among a group of farmers at Belladrum, West Coast Berbice who received agricultural equipment less than four days after President Ali’s political outreach to the Mahaica-Berbice region.

He also suggested that Mr Saul, Vice-President of the Guyana Veterans Legion, is aware of ongoing efforts to resolve all issues related to National Insurance Scheme (NIS) benefits for veterans following the intervention of the President. “That promise was kept by our President as employees of NIS are working at Camp Ayanganna resolving issues for veterans that the APNU+AFC inexplicably chose to ignore while in office,” the Prime Minister said.

“The author is an obsequious tentacle affixed to the scheming, manipulative and depraved APNU+AFC that plunged Guyana into chaos, and on the brink of civil unrest following a clumsily hatched plan to strangulate our democracy at the 2020 regional and general  elections,” he added.

The Guyana government has repeatedly denied that is discriminating against Afro-Guyanese, and has noted that efforts to share its perspective with United States Democratic Congressman Hakeem Jeffries have failed.  The US government has been pushing for the need for inclusionary democracy and shared prosperity in Guyana.