Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton has said that the country needs to take tangible steps to forge racial harmony and eliminate discrimination.
“…we must move beyond lip service and give substance to building racial harmony in Guyana. We can and must take tangible steps to eliminate racial discrimination, to guarantee equality of opportunity for all, and to establish healthy inter-ethnic understandings and interactions,” Norton said in a message to mark the country’s 56th independence anniversary, while urging an end to the existence of “Two Guyanas.”
Norton lamented that the occasion has found the nation not living up to the aspirations laid out in its constitution, including the pledge to “forge a system of governance that promotes concerted effort and broad-based participation in national decision-making in order to develop a viable economy and a harmonious community based on democratic values, social justice, fundamental human rights, and the rule of law.”
According to Norton, the elements aspired to have come under “severe assault” in recent times.
“Instead of concerted effort and broad-based participation in national decision-making, we find a government increasingly hell-bent on instituting political dominance and autocratic rule.
“Instead of a viable economy, we find an economy that privileges the political elite, friends and family, but shortchanges the elderly, single parents, unemployed, the working poor, the young and upcoming, small business owners, small farmers and families with babies and small children.
“Instead of a harmonious community based on democratic values, social justice, fundamental human rights, and the rule of law, we find that the lack of good governance in our country has reached crisis proportions,” Norton said, while noting that the country must do better.
“We owe that much to the generation who fought for our Independence. Even more, we owe it to ourselves, to our children, and to the generations to come.”
Towards this end, Norton emphasised the need for tangible steps to eliminate racial discrimination and to guarantee equality of opportunity for all.
He also said that there must be a shared understanding that Guyana and its riches belong to all Guyanese. “No ethnicity, no group, no class, no citizen is superior to any other. All must be treated equally and respected. And all must share fairly and equitably in the national patrimony,” he said.
Norton also stressed that the nation must strive for good governance as a fundamental human right. “Accountability to the people is achievable and a must. Inclusivity in national decision-making is achievable and a must. Transparency is not a government bonus but a necessity and the people’s right. So is the rule of law. So too is the effective management of the nation’s resources,” he said.
According to Norton, the social and economic rights enshrined in the constitution and in the international conventions to which Guyana is a signatory must be seen not as merely aspirational, but as rights to be actually fulfilled and enjoyed by citizens. “Our constitutional rights, for example, to be free from want, hunger, and ignorance; and our right to work, to leisure, to good health, and to a safe environment must no longer exist only in words. They must be actually guaranteed fully—and urgently,” he said.
