THE recent report of the Independent Expert on Minority Issues, Gay McDougall: addendum: mission to Guyana (28 July to 1 August 2008) which was published on 27 February 2009 caused an uproar in Guyana. The report was deemed extremely flawed and biased. The report consisted of a number of negative findings about human rights violations and racial prejudice, without applying an appropriate methodology. The tone of the McDougall Report seems to suggest that it was intended to reinforce the “Doudou Dienne Report”. That Report suggested that “every level of Guyanese society is permeated by a profound moral, emotional and political fatigue, arising out of the individual and collective impact of ethnic polarisation.”

I am unaware that McDougall had substantial meetings with Government Officials tasked with human rights responsibilities; but instead met with substantive members of the opposition, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), ‘fly-by-night’ non-governmental organizations, civil society and some members of the Social Sciences Faculty of the University of Guyana. The independent expert visited communities, and talked to community members about their lives and issues, disregarding inputs from a representative and multiethnic cross-section of Guyana.

Again, after the death of Janet Jagan and prior to her cremation, a senior member of the University of Guyana Administration decided that it was the right time to step up their campaign to push shared governance and the perception of human rights violations, in preparation for the upcoming elections in 2011.

It is well recognised that the PNCR is trying to build and sustain their nest through the University of Guyana. Reliable sources have informed me that some well-known names from the Social Sciences Faculty assisted in the writing of the McDougall report, giving biased and flawed information to McDougall; and who already had a warped agenda to reinforce the “Dou dou Dienne report”. McDougall’s reports for Australia and Greece were previously rejected; these countries claimed that the reports were filled with inconsistencies and were grossly slanted against their governments.

The McDougall report exerts the opposition’s line and fails to incorporate even a miniscule aspect of the government’s responses. And so, this report demonstrated the level of mischievousness that strives within our society. It is my belief that the McDougall Report was an attempt to create racial strife and hostility among Guyanese and disturb the peaceful environment that exists today; so as to provide the catalyst for the destabilization of Guyana.

I have heard that some UG personnel are totally opposed to the existing government and have connections with several international organization localized in Guyana, and they provide input into many of the documents that come out of these international groups.