I refer to Mr. Clarence F. Ellis’ letter in Kaieteur News on April 6, 2009, with the title “Mc Dougall Report is an exceptionally good analysis of the social situation in Guyana.”

The Mc Dougall report is not only being criticized by the government, but also by people outside of government. The McDougall report attracts criticisms because it is methodologically flawed, and she only spoke to a handful of people from the opposition forces. Are we not supposed to strike an objective balance, especially when presenting a report from the United Nations?

The Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) submitted to Mc Dougall (11) reports, among which were five (5) studies conducted by independent consultants in the areas of employment practices, land distribution, tendering and procurement, economic opportunities and academic scholarships. In addition, Ms. Mc Dougall’s Special Assistant met with the Commission for a meeting which lasted approximately forty (40) minutes. None of these ERC reports was utilised or alluded to in the Mc Dougall report.

I would assume that any United Nations report should attempt to strike some sense of balance. Ms. Mc Dougall also used convenient sampling, which is fine; however we need to have some sense of some of the criteria she used to make the selection.

It is a slap in the face to present Amerindians as an appendix in the report, that is, to treat them separately. The Amerindians are growing in considerable numbers in this country and demand equal space and place in any report, especially any United Nations report; as an Amerindian, I take great offence to this report that treats me as fourth class citizen in my country. Who Mr. Ellis thinks he is, so as to treat Amerindians in the way he does.

Mr. Clarence F. Ellis’ endorsement of Mc Dougall’s statement clearly shows his lack of understanding of Guyana’s race relation issues. Ellis’ false pontification and pronouncement on Guyana clearly shows the man has outlived any usefulness.

I think it appears from what I read in the press, that the government is keen to see African self- determination and a resurrection of African culture in Guyana. I would like to invite Mr. Ellis to read the Public Sector 2009 Estimates and read the budgetary allocations to African communities.

Mr. Clarence F. Ellis should stop peddling falsehood because his letter shivers or trembles with untruths and is doing a great disservice to his own race.
GREGORY De FREITAS