HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Lucheon has warned against stoking ethnic insecurity as it relates to Chinese nationals in Guyana. He issued the warning yesterday, as he updated the local media corps on Cabinet’s view of the phenomenon during his weekly briefing, at Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown.
Luncheon said the recent occurrence is no run of the mill attack on Chinese shopkeepers or restaurant owners, something that has happened in the past and cannot be divorced from the onslaught in sections of the media, as well as positions being disseminated in various social information sectors.
The HPS maintained that the current situation is not a case of a merchant whose store or food shop is robbed or another assaulted, “that has been, indeed, a feature but what is different, this time, is what I call the orchestrating.”
The Cabinet Secretary said what is being perpetuated in Guyana against the Chinese, presently, panders to xenophobia.
“Let us not fool ourselves…it is the context in which the phenomenon has surfaced…this is not the run of the mill,” he declared, adding that “Cabinet has viewed the recent public sentiments being propagated that can be interpreted as a licence to act against the Chinese.”  
He said that, should he, Luncheon, condemn something, then it could be seen by others as something to condemn, too.

SPEAK OUT
According to him, the Administration would like to see politicians speak out against the campaign against the Chinese, as have the saner members of the society, a reference to the Private Sector Commission (PSC) among other entities that have come out in condemnation of the attacks on the Chinese.
Questioned about figures to complement the Cabinet assertion, the HPS asked: “What the hell are we to be proud of by demonstrating, statistically, there has been a crime surge against Chinese nationals?”
Cautioning against stoking ethnic insecurity, Luncheon said the Administration is trying to avoid a situation where Guyanese will be “demonising people.”
He said that could lead to persons feeling that they are being treated like second class citizens “and that is what we are trying to avoid.”
He suggested that there should be a repudiation of the phenomenon and not set out to inflame elements in society “to go down the road of lawlessness…if it happens they should dissociate themselves from that phenomenon.”
Luncheon was adamant that the stoking of ethnic insecurity is harming national development.
He said Cabinet has reviewed the recent events that were influencing the treatment of foreigners, particularly Chinese and “it was unsettling as far as Cabinet is concerned…the bottom line Cabinet asserted was our national image was being hurt and it was being plagued by a few obsessed with anti-government sentiments.”
Luncheon said those persons are, seemingly, unmindful of the law, patently short on civility, pretentious and “oblivious of the reality of our development demands.”
He said foreigners are, generally, welcomed to Guyana and are attracted by the renowned hospitality of Guyanese and, at this point in time, they are even more necessary, even more critical and the contributions they are making must be recognised, particularly, with the developmental agenda and its needs.