Dear Editor,
Yesterday, during the flurry of movements in the National Assembly, my attention was drawn to the Government’s Members of Parliament in a photoshoot for a #ChooseToChallenge campaign as they prepared to roll out activities to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) on Monday, March 8. The world is being challenged to ‘stand against gender bias and inequality and to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements towards the creation of an inclusive world’. It is in this vein that Government MPs held signage, ‘placards’ in support of these most notable and laudable goals. The PPP Government’s own resolve in this regard was to be tested this very day of the auspicious photoshoot, in the very same space, with the 26th Sitting of the National Assembly as the backdrop.
On Wednesday, Opposition Mem-ber of Parliament Tabitha Sarabo-Halley intimated to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Leader of the Opposition and colleagues that in the precincts of the chamber she was assaulted by minister and Member of Parliament Kwame McCoy. Every-thing which followed tested our resolve on the issue of gender bias and inequality and many who had earlier #ChooseToChallenge in a photo-op were found wanting in substance. Whether it was the Speaker who wanted the consideration of the expenditures and estimates to continue as though the sanctity of the hallowed halls was not breached, or Mark Phillips, Juan Edghill and Anand Persaud, who appeared on a Department of Public Information’s (DPI) programme to push back against the serious charges being leveled against McCoy, who oversees the operations of DPI itself as part of his remit, but what stood as an indictment of the PPP Government’s #ChooseTo Challenge campaign is that long before the investigation into this serious matter was concluded, egregious pronouncements on this issue were made to the effect that it never occurred even though McCoy admitted to verbally confronting Sarabo-Halley who was making an otherwise routine, uneventful sojourn to the ladies restroom.
It is an indictment that the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, spearheading the #ChooseToChallenge campaign, led by Dr. Vindhya Persaud, many hours later, had not even issued a call for a swift investigation in what is a most reprehensible act against a fellow female MP. I find it simply and singularly astonishing if this is the reaction of a government, ministers, Members of Parliament to the reported assault on Sarabo-Halley, on the eve of International Women’s Day 2021, how will the ordinary mother, sister, daughter, friend, and ordinary Guyanese fare who dares to step forward, who summons the courage to step forward? Did we #ChooseToChallenge yesterday or does the status quo treatment of our women persist?
Sincerely,
Sherod Avery Duncan, MP.
