***the PPP/C on association’s statement on budget cuts
THE PPP/C is appalled at the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) statement in relation to the public anger and outcry at the APNU/AFC budget cuts of more than $18 B.
Rather than empathising with Guyanese public anger over the cuts, the GHRA, in a major cover-up on behalf of APNU/AFC, has sought to justify such actions and  attacked those who have highlighted and commented on these most draconian actions of the opposition.
One would expect that the human rights organisation of any country, or an organisation that has a human rights orientation, would adopt a position publicly and privately that ensures that it canvasses for positions that are supportive of human rights and the welfare of people.
The statement issued by the GHRA seems to have moved away from that role of being an advocate for human rights issues, and has now further descended into the opposition’s partisan political realm.
The PPP/C has no apology for representing the interest and welfare of all Guyanese, especially Amerindians, women, children and young people who have, in all regions, been affected by these unjustified and unwarranted budget cuts that have led to the slowing or cessation of government goods and services.
For example, one of the projects that have been cut is the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) project,  which is designed to empower our people, educationally and technologically, to deal with the advances which are taking place in the world, or else we will be left behind as a country and as a people.
It is from that perspective that the PPP/C Government launched the OLPF, to ensure that 90,000 families, irrespective of their economic circumstances, ethnic backgrounds or political orientation, have equal access to information technology and the benefits which it brings.
The provision of a laptop to a child in Berbice ,or a child in the Pakaraimas, or a child in Linden, is important for that child’s development, and therefore it is a human rights issue and the position that should have been adopted by the GHRA is one which supports the government’s ability to provide that facility to the people of this country.
For the GHRA to be blinded by the opposition smokescreen and follow their lead by implying racial motives, is in effect serving their purpose of distracting from the reality of the effects due to their irresponsible actions in the National Assembly, and assist them in extricating themselves from being held accountable to the Guyanese people for their actions.
It appears that only the GHRA is not aware that it was the joint opposition which slashed the Ethnic Relations Commission budget to $1, and it has been the opposition which had constantly tried to hamper the work of the commission, either by resorting to the courts or by other means, which had failed.
Such a deafening silence by the GHRA on this issue, amplified even more based on its allegations, is most damning on the credibility of this organization.
Another example of a gross violation of human rights is the slashing of the Guyana Power and Light Company subsidy by $1B, as the entire $1B  was supposed to be injected into GPL to ensure that it does not raise its rates and tariffs because the PPP/C Government recognised that the price of fuel internationally has been on the rise, and the utility service needs fuel to run its operations.
If GPL is to continue to provide a reliable service, then the power company by pure economic pressure will be forced to raise its tariffs by around 25% – 30%. Now 160,000 customers of GPL or 160,000 families from all persuasions will be affected by any reduction to that assistance package, which is a human rights issue.
With regard to the Hinterland Electrification Programme,  Amerindians have been in Guyana for several centuries and have never had electricity. The PPP/C Government started a programme to provide solar-generated electricity to our indigenous peoples. The programme has commenced and the 2012 budget had allocations to continue that programme. However, this was cut by the AFC/APNU.
So the GHRA apparently does not have a problem with the joint opposition denying the people in these communities the right to a basic utility service available to human beings all over the world in today’s civilization.
Also, under the Low Carbon Development Strategy, a number of programmes aimed at further empowering vulnerable segments of our population, particularly the Amerindian peoples, have been slashed. But this is of no concern to the GHRA.
Even further, the Guyana Human Rights Association finds it abominable that the PPP/C Government has been going into not only Amerindian communities, but all communities across Guyana, to explain to the people that it had presented to them a manifesto in the lead up to the November 28, 2011 elections, where they were promised certain programmes and that it has presented to the National Assembly, a budget that contains provisions for these things to be accomplished; but it is no longer in a position to deliver these goods and services to the people because the opposition parties have cut off funding for these programmes.
This basic conversation to account to the people which is integral in any democracy, the very same body which would like to have people believe that it is in the vanguard of defending democracy and freedoms, is now trying to deny the PPP/C and the PPP/C Government such opportunities.
It is also important to note that the budget cuts endanger hundreds and perhaps thousands of jobs of people of all ethnicities and political persuasions, which is a human rights issue. In fact, any human rights organisation in the world would take a position that supports the workers; but alas, it appears that in Guyana we have a human rights body that supports the opposite and adopts an anti-workers position.
The GHRA must recognise that even the opposition politicians know that their budget cuts are indefensible, which is why their justifications have been constantly shifting, and as such, rather than attempting to defend the opposition it ought to have taken a position which advocates human rights rather than their current position which deprecates human rights.
The time has come for the opposition-aligned GHRA to drop its pretension of being an independent and objective body. The Guyanese public will not be duped by its political charade.