— NYGDP debunks claims of racial discrimination in Guyana made at Brooklyn Townhall Meeting

By Vishnu Bisram
THE New York based Guyana Democracy Project (NYGDP) has debunked a charge of racism levelled against the Guyana government by a Brooklyn-based Guyanese group at a political rally on October 30 in Flatbush, New York, as ill-informed.

The NYGDP, in a letter, stated that at the Town Hall meeting in Brooklyn, New York State Attorney- General, Letitia James, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries and others, unjustifiably accused the PPP/C administration of ‘race discrimination’ and other wrong doings.

The NYGDP argued, in letters to both politicians, that their “accusations are unsubstantiated”. It noted also that the government’s Cabinet “reflects the diversity of the country’s population. Not only that, the public service, the police force, the army, the prison service, the teaching and nursing professions are dominated by Afro-Guyanese”.

How could this racial discrimination happen when these services are more than fairly distributed? the NYGDP asked

The letter added: “As Guyanese, who love our country and who have been following developments in Guyana for decades, we are extremely disappointed that you, in the USA, could make such careless comments, and we are very concerned that they might unwittingly be creating race tension and hatred in Guyana.

“The reality is that Guyana has seen the greatest progress in its history during the terms of the PPP/C administration. The opposition PNC/R’s historical record is that of electoral rigging and incompetence. They governed Guyana for 33 years since 1964, and has very little to show for that period. The most notable rigging by PNCR occurred in the post-March 2nd, 2020 elections which the former Jamaican PM Bruce Golding described as a most transparent attempt to steal an election. This blatant attempt was condemned by the US Embassy, all the Western diplomatic missions, the Carter Center, the Commonwealth, the OAS, the Mandela Foundation and 100 countries.”

The NYGDP noted that the PPP/C, on the other hand, governed for 23 years and brought the country out of bankruptcy and authoritarianism and a return to democracy in the 1990s after 28 years of PNC/R dictatorship. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), it said, grew at an annual average of five per cent under PPP/C governance.

TRANSFORMATIVE PROJECTS
During the current PPP/C term in office, the government has initiated development and transformative projects in several PNC Afro-Guyanese strongholds as well as in Amerindian-Guyanese communities.

The NYGDP also said that development reaches every community in Guyana, noting that the government has allocated for example, 11,000 houselots so far and over 50 per cent were given to Afro Guyanese even though they account for only 29 per cent of the population.

In addition, the government has awarded 6,000 scholarships at all levels and 39 per cent of those were given to Afro-Guyanese who account for only 29 per cent of the population.

“The current government is doing a remarkable job as attested to by the results of a recent October NACTA Poll which found approval ratings of the President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali at 72 per cent and Prime Minister Mark Phillips at 71 per cent. In contrast, the approval rating for the Opposition Leader, Mr Norton (who is also the PNC/R leader) is 28 per cent. Clearly, the population approves of the performance of the government and disapproves of the performance of the opposition.”

“It is noted that the other political parties and representatives of all the other race groups have not accused the PPP/C government of racial discrimination. And the other groups account for 31 per cent of the country’s population, a percentage higher than the Afro-Guyanese population of 29 per cent. Clearly, the charge of racial discrimination in Guyana under the PPP/C administration is not borne out. Attorney-General James and yourself Congressman Jeffries and others must not allow yourselves to be misled by the organisers of the October 30 rally,” the letter concluded.