RESIDENTS of Central Rupununi who are angry, upset and still reeling from the shockingly offensive statement made in the National Assembly last week by Parliamentarian, Sydney Allicock, that the Rupununi is the ‘most backward place in the Caribbean’, yesterday gave Opposition Leader, David Granger and other senior members of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) a placard-bearing picketing welcome on arrival at Lethem.

The residents, majority of whom are Amerindians, came from as far as Kumu in the South Rupununi to protest Allicock’s highly offensive and derogatory statement when APNU members visited Lethem on an outreach to, among other things, do damage control after their colleague’s embarrassing statement.

The parliamentary Opposition team headed by Granger, who is chairman of APNU, and which included Basil Williams, Amna Ally, Ronald Bulkan, Sydney Allicock (and others), was greeted at the Lethem airstrip yesterday morning by Amerindians bearing placards that read: ‘Allicock is backward’, ‘Budget cuts will lead us backward’, ‘Amerindian people are not backward people, we are the first people’, and ‘No place for APNU in Rupununi’.
Obviously caught ‘off guard’, Granger and his team were left in total shock at the welcome they got.
This reporter, who was at the scene in Lethem yesterday, saw the APNU supporters confronting the peaceful Amerindians protesters, trying to explain what Allicock meant when he said the Rupununi is the most backward place in the Caribbean.

The peaceful Amerindians held their position outside the Lethem airstrip, and the APNU confrontation failed to distract them. A heated exchange of words between APNU supporter Mr. C. Beckles and Senior Councillor of Kumu, Mr. Emrick Francis, was the high point of the morning action. Minutes later, Opposition Leader Granger left on an airplane for the village of Annai, where he was expected to be greeted by another protest by villagers.

While outside the Lethem airstrip, Mr. Granger sought to advise the Amerindian protesters that they were being misled by the PPP /C government about what had transpired in the National Assembly on the day in question.

He was then shown a copy of the article carried in the Guyana Chronicle newspaper, and Mr Emrick Francis asked Allicock, who is a Member of Parliament for APNU, “How would you have felt if it was me who had said something like that about our people?”
Mr. Alicock then quietly and humbly accepted that he had made the statement, and apologised to Senior Councillor Francis for his action. “I am sorry,” he said. The other members of the APNU team then left to meet with supporters in the various villages across the Rupununi.

Residents of Potarinau, Shulinab, Kumu and Karasabai have clearly stated that they would not be allowing members of the Opposition, especially the APNU, into their villages to spread false messages.

Meanwhile, in a press statement last night, APNU blamed the Peoples Progressive Party / Civic (PPPC) for organising the picketing exercise at Lethem.
APNU said “the small group of protestors faced vociferous confrontation from Lethem residents and persuasive rebuttals from a group of APNU Members Parliament who were on a routine fan-out exercise in the Region”.
It said the parliamentary opposition team was able to “apprise the protestors of the true nature of Mr. Allicock’s remarks”.

WIDESPREAD CONDEMNATION
In the wake of this newspapers’ exposure of Allicock’s shocking statement, there has been widespread condemnation of it, with sharp rebuke from several quarters, including the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Region 9 Education Committee, the Local Government Ministry, and from several prominent Amerindian organisations and representatives.
Toshao of Fairview Village, Mr. Albertini Peters declared that the assertion is an embarrassment to the Amerindian people of the district, because, over the past ten years, they have been able to live, move and work more comfortably as jobs, health and education services has seen tremendous improvement.
He charged that Allicock is a disgrace to his people and has been, for many years, blind to development of any nature in his home village, more so Rupununi.
Senior councillor of Wowetta Village, Mr. Bertie Xavier, who said he learnt of the erroneous declaration via the Internet (Chronicle online), summoned a meeting of villagers to inform them about it.
He said the Government, through the Amerindian Affairs Ministry, has done so much to assist communities across Guyana and, because the implementation of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) has also assisted with more special projects, it is grossly unfair for an MP to make such remarks in Parliament.
Xavier recalled that, only three months ago, Allicock’s village of Surama benefitted from the annual Presidential Grant of $500,000 and it was able to get a minibus to aid with transporting students to schools in the Annai area.  
He said Allicock was present at the handing over ceremony for the vehicle and made comments in support of the government assistance for the development of Rupuruni.
Xavier said other notable projects at Surama were the fencing of the airstrip and the building of roads in the village.
Community Development Officer of North Rupununi, Ms. Pristila Torez said she felt betrayed, since she had worked tirelessly on preparing projects for the villages to secure grants for developing the Amerindian people.
She said the description by Allicock is untrue and the evidence of development is in the sight of all the people in Rupununi.