Dear Editor,
In the opinion of the International Committee in Continuing Defence of Linden, the statement of the Guyana Government through its Ambassador to the Organisation of American States (OAS) delivered on August 22, 2012, instead of reciting the sequence of events, went out of its way to accuse the government’s critics of incitement to racial disaffection.
In the face of this highly partisan and one-sided presentation, the OAS must now open itself to hearing the voice of those able to dispute the ‘single story’ to which the meeting was exposed. “The Chairman of the OAS Permanent Council, Ambassador Stephen Vasciannie of Jamaica, assured Ambassador Karran that the Council has taken note of the information presented and urged him to keep the Council abreast of further developments,” reported one Guyanese newspaper. This request, directed by the presiding official at the August 22 meeting to the representative of the Government of Guyana when the very representative said that it was an adversarial situation in which important parties were involved, seems to signify that the OAS will rely on one side and one side only for its evaluation of the situation. This official posture of the OAS is disappointing and prejudicial to the interests of citizens whose representatives hold office as a result of democratic elections.
It is this Committee’s view that this issue is separate and apart from the proposed Commission of Inquiry. An example of the injustice of the OAS’ posture is the fact that the Ambassador’s brief as recorded by the OAS did not reveal the attitude of the Government of Guyana to parliamentary democracy although it ventured into parliamentary affairs. It did not reveal that the National Assembly of Guyana carried a vote of no confidence in the Minister of Home Affairs, who has continued to hold office.
If the OAS had been alert about fairness and justice it would have invited the Regional representatives of Linden to be present in time for the Ambassador’s briefing. It now has no decent alternative but to invite them without delay. The Chairman of Region 10 has already signalled in a letter to Ambassador Karran that his “presentation contained a number of inaccuracies and misrepresentations.” Not to hear directly from regional representatives would amount to a refusal to correct its blunder.
Yours faithfully,
Nigel Westmaas (Co-ordinator)
International Committee in Continuing Defence of Linden
(Dr Sara Abraham, India/Canada, lawyer; Dr Peggy Antrobus, Grenada/ Barbados, feminist educator; Syadazem Azeem, Pakistan/Canada, lawyer; Moses Bhagwan, Guyana/US, lawyer; Dr Horace Campbell, Jamaica/US, educator; Dr Dennis Canterbury, Guyana/US, educator; Prof Jan Carew, US, author/educator; George Daniels, Guyana/US, former President of the TUC & Leader of the Public Services Union; Luke Daniels, President, Caribbean Labour Solidarity; Lord Anthony Gifford, QC, UK; Vic Hall, Guyana/US, retired journalist; Dr Adeola James, Guyana/US/Nigeria, educator; Selma James, US/ London, Co-ordinator, Global Women’s Strike; Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, Guyana/US, banker; Kamal Matthews, Guyana/UK, cultural worker; Marc Matthews, Guyana/ London, cultural worker; Kimani Nehusi, Guyana/UK, Pan-African educator; Eusi Kwayana, Guyana/US, activist; Tchaiko Kwayana, US, liberation educator; Michael Parris, Guyana/Canada, educator; Dr Patricia Rodney, Guyana/US, educator; Sylvia Salley, Tlinget Nation; Dr Terrence Roopnaraine, Guyana/ Zambia, anthropologist
