WE are known to be a peaceful and tolerant society. We value our honour and our dignity. We have men and women from all walks of life and from all ethnicities who occupy senior positions both at the executive and the administrative levels of government. These are people of unquestionable loyalty and commitment to the cause of Guyana and the Guyanese people.

Regrettably, there are some in our midst who seemingly have no mission in life other than to discredit Guyana and, more particularly, the leadership of the governing PPP/C administration.

These are people who are motivated by a desire to take the country back to a dark and sordid past when there was an absence of democracy, freedom of expression and economic and social progress.

Under the PNC regime, the country was ranked as one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere and Guyana was reduced to a ‘pariah’ state. With the restoration of democratic rule on October 5, 1992 after 28 years of PNC undemocratic and authoritarian rule, the democratic and economic profile of the country has changed.

The country is today ranked among the fastest-growing economies in the world.

Yet there are those who unashamedly have the temerity to level accusations against the PPP/C administration of practising ‘racism’ and ‘discrimination’ in the way the affairs of the country are being managed.

Nothing is further from the truth. The PPP/C administration has been extremely even-handed in the manner in which the resources of the country are being administered and, as pointed out by Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, the government remains committed to all-inclusive, people-centred development.

The minister called on all Guyanese at home and abroad to beware of known PNC operative, Rickford Burke, whose political and racist agenda is well-known and who appears hellbent on fuelling ethnic division in the country.

As pointed out by Minister Teixeira, a town hall meeting organized by Burke on October 30 was nothing short of ‘racist propaganda’. She contended that it was unfortunate that a few local officials in the United States, who rely on the electorate in Brooklyn, gave attention to him.

According to Minister Teixeira, “it was extraordinary that any of these local elected leaders would attend such a racist forum organized by people who were silently or openly supportive when the APNU+AFC coalition conspired with senior officials of GECOM repeatedly to delay the 2020 General and Regional Elections.

This went on for 14 months following their loss of government to a no-confidence motion on December 18, 2018. President Granger and his Cabinet had the highest number of court rulings in CARICOM on constitutional violations. It should be recorded that the APNU+AFC government conspired with senior officials in the Guyana Elections Commission to remain in office, although they had lost the elections; fired 7000 sugar workers, majority Indo-Guyanese, 1,972 indigenous/Amerindian Community Service Officers, and 2,000 public servants who were majority one ethnic group and/or considered ‘politically incorrect’ by their administration; and discriminated against communities that did not vote for them during their five-year tenure in office.

The APNU+AFC and their political cronies lacked both the credibility and moral standing to speak on the issue of political and racial discrimination in Guyana. Its past record in government has disqualified it from any claim to truth and legitimacy on the issue of governance especially as it pertains to allegations of political and racial discrimination.

And while such forms of political behaviour have now become embedded in the DNA of the PNC, what is difficult for any rational person to understand is the extent to which such unbridled nonsense has found its way among some individuals of apparent prominence in the political decision-making structures of the United States where significant segments of Guyanese reside.

As pointed out repeatedly by President Ali, there is no place for racist elements and those with racist agendas. The PPP/C administration has always embraced a policy of zero-tolerance for racism and race-based politics. Despite the pessimists in our society and those with racist agendas, the country is moving forward along the path of peace, progress and prosperity.