Dear Editor,
Aubrey Norton must face the allegations made by the ex-Treasurer of the People’s National Congress (PNC), Faaiz Mursaline, that he, Norton, engages in “discrimination and racial hostility”. It is important that Norton not shy away from the charges for many reasons, not least of which is that he, Norton, constantly makes such allegations against PPP administrations and should demonstrate how such allegations should be dealt with; lead by example if you will.
A few weeks ago, Attorney Nigel Hughes released statistics that showed an imbalance in the award value of government contracts to black-owned firms; I wrote suggesting a myriad of approaches to first ascertain the true position and pathways to equitable solutions; unfortunately, none has been adopted to date. I now put to Aubrey Norton that he is faced with allegations identical in nature to the ones he bandies about and it would be instructive to all Guyanese to see him deal with these in a transparent, structured manner.
The simultaneous resignations of the General Secretary and the Treasurer of the PNC, both Indo-Guyanese coupled with the dearth of Indo-Guyanese within the general membership of the party certainly seems impolitic if not downright disastrous for the image of the PNC as a ‘multi-racial’ entity and reflects badly on Norton’s leadership skills; if Norton is unable to clear up the allegations of “racial hostility” then the problem is compounded for the PNC and their goal of returning to power via the polls.
In my experience, Guyanese may vote by and large along racial lines but have limited patience with actual racism; it is a matter of representation. 217,920 people voted for David Granger and APNU+AFC to represent them either as President or Opposition in Parliament, none of them voted for Aubrey Norton (many were surprised he was on the list) and he sits in the LOP seat by the grace of Granger; should Norton not disprove the allegations of the ex-treasurer of the PNC, then David Granger may well have to exercise his power as Representative of the List for the benefit of all of those who voted for him (Granger) and a multi-ethnic APNU+AFC coalition. 2023 is shaping to be politically intriguing and we could well see the return of the Man from Pearl; in the words of Amna Ally “bring it on”.
Sincerely,
Robin Singh