Dear Editor,
Today’s news sparked a mood to write on a very disturbing issue. It’s about a friend of mine who is now residing in Lethem, Region 9. She has no relatives in Georgetown. She was expecting.
She texted to say that she was referred to the Georgetown hospital from the Lethem hospital. Today I understood that that referral was done with the understanding that she would be taken care of to and from Georgetown after her delivery and discharge.
She apparently approached a welfare officer from the Amerindian ministry with regard to being accommodated at the Amerindian Residence on Princes Street, Georgetown, since she has no one in Georgetown. I am told that the welfare officer told her that the residence was only for the Amerindians. My friend is far too intelligent to explain the position in which she was placed in Georgetown, especially with a young baby. If those words were truly uttered by the officer, it’s unbelievable for a welfare officer. I am further ashamed and agitated over what happened to my friend. This is highly discriminatory. Where on earth is One People, One Nation?
Now who decides who is an Amerindian? In my book, definitely not the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs. If I may, I want to go back in history a bit. Once I attended an Amerindian conference at President’s College where an African descendant was a Toshao who couldn’t speak English. He had a translator ‒ an Amerindian.
Do you get my point!?
The victim in this case, for information, is an Amerindian descendant.
I want to say this openly, once again, that I am not in favour of a Ministry of Indigenous Affairs (Amerindian Ministry) but rather prefer Interior Ministry, which would take care of the affairs of the residents of the interior locations. The Ministry of Indigenous Affairs is a partisan political tool to control and keep people divided ‒ especially the Amerindians.
I therefore recommend that the residence on Princes Street be used by interior residents regardless of who they are, especially patients with children, and that the name be changed to Interior Residents Hostel.
Yours faithfully,
Guy Marco
