Amid talks of the United States (US) government probing claims of discriminatory government practices and policies in Guyana, US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch believes that both sides of the political divide are working to promote inclusion.
“We work with the government and the opposition on these issues all the time and I think both are doing quite a bit to promote inclusion in everything in Guyana,” Ambassador Lynch said during an interview with the News Room on Thursday.
“I really think all parties have the common goal of including all Guyanese voices going forward and we promote that,” she added.
It was recently reported in the press that New York Attorney General Letitia James intends to ask the Joe Biden administration to probe ‘disturbing’ claims of discrimination in Guyana.
“I again, along with my Democratic Attorneys General across the country, will be calling on the DOJ (Department of Justice) as well as the Biden administration to look into allegations that have been put forward this evening,” James was quoted as saying at a Town Hall meeting on Sunday last.
But soon after her statements, Michael Henry, who challenges James for the post, criticized her coziness with overseas-based political activist and organizer of the meeting Rickford Burke.
“It is disgraceful that Letitia James would embrace a wanted criminal who calls for racial violence against ethnic minorities here in New York. Violence against political opponents has no place here. Period,” Henry said in a press release on Thursday.
Henry in his release reminded that Burke faces charges in Guyana of “inciting public terror” and “race hatred.”
The A Partnership For National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) parliamentary opposition has continued issuing accusations of racial discrimination by the Guyanese government.
However, Prime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips has dismissed these claims, noting that the “APNU + AFC wants to shift the conversation so that they can continue to fan the flames of division.”
The Prime Minister, in a press release on October 29, noted that opportunities are equally available to every Guyanese through the policies and interventions of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government.
“People have been benefitting from roads, development and upgrade of sports facilities, university scholarships, while our local artistes are being given the opportunities and support that they’ve never had before by performing regularly at many Government events,” the release stated, noting that all Guyanese benefit similarly.
In making his case, he noted that the government has distributed over 11,000 house lots since assuming office, roughly 50 percent of which went to Afro-Guyanese, 41 percent to Indo-Guyanese, and just over seven percent to mixed-race.
“I will continue to resist and expose the PNC’s ridiculous claims with every fiber of my being by presenting the truth about the government’s many initiatives in infrastructure, education, health and other sectors that are creating bountiful opportunities for all Guyanese,” the release noted.
