Civil society group Policy Forum Guyana, one of the organisations behind the recent call for greater government accountability and transparency, has dubbed the ensuing attack by the Irfaan Ali-led administration proof that their concerns are legitimate.
“Rather than attack the message of the release, spokespersons for the Government have attacked the messengers,” the organisation said in a statement on Saturday as it decried as distasteful what it said was the harassment of the elderly religious women who run an orphanage, and the President of the Blind Society, people who provide care and support for the neediest in society for expressing their opinion.
Last Wednesday, policy Forum, the Community-Based Rehabilitation, East Coast Development Committees, Guyana Human Rights Association, Guyana Organization of Indigenous Peoples, Guyana Society for the Blind, Guyana Workers Union, Red Thread, Transparency Institute Guyana Inc, and Ursuline Sisters in Guyana endorsed a release questioning the pace of the government and raising issues about accountability, particularly in the extractive sector.
The release had listed three examples of what it considered to be instances of government not being accountable: 1) The “stripping” of the Public Oversight and Accountability Committee from the Natural Resource Fund Act; 2) reducing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “to a rubber-stamp;” and 3) the pending appointment of Prem Misir to head the Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GYEITI).
It also lamented that the government’s reason for not engaging in even the ‘pretense of consultation’ appears to be that the APNU+AFC forfeited any right to accountability as “punishment” for the five-month electoral impasse in 2020.
The release triggered attacks by President Ali and several ministers, who questioned the legitimacy of the groups and accused them of selective advocacy.
In its statement yesterday, Policy Forum said the government’s response repeated the long-standing PPP suspicion of civic organizations that seek to influence political decisions but are not seeking formal political power. It also said the official response reiterated that the criterion for political legitimacy in Guyana remains the perception of where organizations stood in the 2020 elections, while speed is prioritised over dialogue in political decision-making processes.
Policy Forum says it is a network of civic organizations that came into existence in 2015 with the general aim of strengthening electoral, environmental and financial accountability.
