Becoming visibly angry, President Irfaan Ali yesterday accused a visiting delegation from the US of being politically influenced by what he termed “baseless narratives being peddled by the Opposition”.
The Head of State was referring to the 14-person delegation headed by President and Founder of the Organization of World Leaders, Dee Dawkins-Haigler, which is expected to depart Guyana soon following its fact-finding mission into allegations of discrimination, racism, exploitation and other social injustices under the PPP/C regime.
The President, at a media conference yesterday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre accused the delegation of being misguided by his country’s political affairs.
Ali said the Chairman of the delegation, Dawkins-Haigler, had reached out to him regarding an engagement on what she and other US representatives had heard about Guyana, amid numerous complaints by several civil society members.
“I proceeded to send to her every single report; the Commission of Inquiry into the elections, the EU report, the CARICOM report, the OAS report, and the communication went blank.
“I then invited her to examine our three branches of government, to examine our house lot allocation programme, and she then told me that this seems to be like the problem they face in the United States, of propaganda and mistrust, but she never corrected that press statement, which I found to be very dishonourable,” Ali said.
Ali, who was clearly upset said that the fact-finding mission failed to conduct a rounded investigation, instead opting to engage with a few selected persons.
The US Delegation on Thursday held a town hall meeting at the Critchlow Labour College where members of civil society complained about being victimized and discriminated against under the Ali administration.
“Why didn’t they go and speak to the Ethnic Relations Commission to see if any of those persons ever reported anything?” President Ali questioned.
President Ali posited that the delegation should direct their attention to the multiple discrepancies that occurred under the David Granger-led administration.
“I wonder if this group would examine the thousands of sugar workers who were sent home. I wonder if they will examine the attempt to rig the elections. Are they examining the more than 200 taxes that were imposed on Afro-Guyanese, Indo-Guyanese and Amerindians by the last government, that we removed? Why don’t they examine how many house lots were given to different categories of people in the five years and what was given under us? This nonsense has to come to an end, where every Tom, Dick and Harry feels they can come and evaluate us. We have to put a stop to it. I am putting a stop to it with real work, on the ground, bringing the people of this country together. We are working for results. I will not rest until this country is united,” he declared.
The President also accused the delegation of also being biased and partisan, a charge, the Delegation’s Head Dawkins-Haigler debunked during the town hall meeting on Wednesday.
She said on Thursday “the delegation is unbiased and non-partisan and is committed towards conducting an impartial and uncorrupted fact-finding mission”.
Discrimination, racism and economic exploitation were among the problems raised by those who turned up on Thursday at the Town Hall styled-meeting facilitated by the visiting US delegation currently in Guyana a fact-finding mission.
While the delegation met with a section of Civil Society and the APNU+AFC, the PPP/C government has insisted it will not meet with the visiting team as it considered it to be biased on favour of the opposition.
Cyril Walker, a Guyanese engineer who worked for several years in his native land and the United States told the 14-person delegation and the audience that Guyana’s procurement laws are compromised as contracts are being awarded indiscriminately under the Ali government.
Members of the visiting delegation comprise of – Georgia State Senator Micheal Rhett; North Carolina General Assembly Representative, Dr. Amber Barker; Georgia State Representative Debra Basemore; Mississippi State Senator Hillman Frazier; Texas State Representative Rhetta Bowers; Kentucky State Senator Gerald Neal; Tennessee State Representative G.A Hardaway; South Carolina House of Representatives, Annie McDaniel; Latron Price Owner of Westside Community Market (LLC), and Founder of Save Ourselves Marcus Coleman.
