MINISTER of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Oneidge Waldron has debunked allegations made by IDPADA-G of discrimination against the Afro-Guyanese segment of our population. The Minister made those remarks during an address to the Third Session of the Permanent Forum on Peoples of African descent in Geneva, Switzerland.

According to Minister Waldron who led the Guyana delegation to the Forum, such allegations are not only false but baseless.
Minister Waldron must be commended for the calm and spirited manner in which she defended the current PPP/C administration against the unfounded allegations of discriminatory practices against Afro-Guyanese.

No one can deny the fact that historically, Africans were the victims of all manner of victimisation and marginalisation. This was especially so during the period of slavery when our African brothers and sisters were subjected to some of the worst forms of discrimination and indignity. The horrors of the Slave Trade and the wholesale uprooting of Africans from their ancestral lands to provide free labour in the plantations have been well documented in the writings of several historians and writers.

We have, however, come a long way since those sordid years. In our case, the influence of the planter class waned significantly since the emergence of nationalist leaders such as Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow and Dr. Cheddi Jagan, both of whom championed the cause of the poor and the marginalised.
Indeed, in a real sense, it was the formation of the first mass-based poltical party, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) under the leadership of Dr. Jagan, Forbes Burnham and Janet Jagan that broke the back of colonial rule and fostered a heightened sense of nationalism and identity.

The PPP from its very inception as a political party embraced a policy of inclusivity. It had and continues to have in its leadership persons of all ethnic groups and religious persuasions. Indeed, it is fair to say that the PPP/C is today the largest multi-ethnic party in Guyana having both its leadership and its membership of people of all races. Policies and programmes of the administration are reflective of our diversity and there is no privileged group as is being argued by the political opposition. There is no discrimination in terms of access to economic or social goods.

This is why it is so important to guard against those who may seek to exploit historical injustices of the past to promote their own agendas. The UN Forum does provide a voice to every individual and group but such voices must be based on the truth and objective realities.
As noted by Minister Oneidge, “As the Government of Guyana, our truth is that we reject entirely as false and baseless the allegations made at this session by representatives of IDPADA-G.”

The facts are that IDPADA-G received approximately $500 million of state funds during the period 2018 to 2020. In the year 2020, the organisation received $100 million of which approximately $42 million was spent on salaries and allowances and a mere $ 343, 000 was disbursed by way of grants to ordinary Afro-Guyanese.
Not surprisingly, there were numerous complaints from persons in Afro-Guyanese communities regarding their inability to access funds from IDPADA-G and their exclusion from the decision-making process regarding the use and allocation of the money it obtained.

One is left to wonder whether the IDPADA-G has become a tool of the political opposition which is seeking to project a false narrative of discrimination and victimisation of Afro-Guyanese. Such allegations are far removed from the truth. In this regard, we must be reminded of the importance of speaking the truth, for it is the truth that will set us free.