Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton yesterday declined to shake President Irfaan Ali’s hand at an Emancipation day event in New Amsterdam.
The incident was captured in a video that was being live streamed by President Ali’s Facebook page. The video began with Ali arriving at the New Amsterdam market place and greeting those present with handshakes and hugs.
However, when he extended his hand to Norton and three others standing close to the Opposition Leader, they all refused to reciprocate. This happened 6 minutes and 13 seconds into the video. Instead Norton made a quick nod to the President who then turned and went to his seat.
In his feature address, the President seemingly referenced the incident.
“If we can’t dance with each other, if we can’t hug each other, if we can’t shake each other’s hands, then how can we uplift each other?” the President said.
“I have a little son and I do not want (him) to grow up in (these circumstances) – because all of us are family here, we are first and foremost the family of humanity but more importantly we are the family of one Guyana. We are the Guyanese family and I never, ever want us to lead a country in which my little son must grow up or your little children must grow up ashamed and afraid to shake each other’s hands. That is disgusting and disrespectful and must never ever get seed to grow up in this country,” he added.
Only last month, Norton said that President Irfaan Ali appeared “out of the blue” and bullied him into a handshake at the British High Commission’s birthday reception for Queen Elizabeth.
Norton said that he deliberately refused to shake the President’s hand as a form of protest over the government’s management of the country.
President Ali and Norton were at the residence of the British High Commissioner to Guyana, Jane Miller when the encounter occurred. Urging Norton, who initially snubbed the request for a handshake to put aside their differences, Ali said that as mature adults there should be no place for “pettiness”.
“He did not want to shake my hand but I have no place for pettiness. This is a social forum… so I told him ‘Shake my hand. We are mature people,” Ali had told Stabroek News afterwards.
Meanwhile Norton said, “the President turned up with a set of cameras … I wasn’t even looking in his direction. He turned to me and apparently had his hand outstretched and he turned to me and asked me if I don’t want to shake his hand and I said no. He then proceeded to, what I consider to be bullyism and we ended up shaking hands, but I want to make it clear that first of all, I cannot treat this as business as usual.”
APNU+AFC, which Norton heads, and the Working People’s Alliance plan to stage a rally this afternoon at Burnham Court during which they intend to highlight their concerns about Ali’s administration which will observe its second term in office today.
