Dear Editor,
The declaration by AFC Leader, Nigel Hughes that the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) is a ‘politically neutral’ organization during his announcement that the deputy head of APA, Laura George had joined the AFC election campaign team, needs to be carefully considered.
Editor, there is no indication that Laura George has resigned from the APA and, Hughes’ thoughts on ‘conflicts of interest’ are well known. This AFC/APA farce is being played for the foreigners, embassies, and international organizations that treat the words of these less-than-credible NGOs as gospel.
This is not an attack on the dozens of NGO’s that are well-intentioned and, who do invaluable work to assist the vulnerable in our society. This is about the handful that has demonstrated clear political bias against the PPP and, who provide fodder for the rumor mills. These organizations may think they are only harming the PPP but in reality, they do immense damage to our nation’s reputation, standing and giving negative perspectives in the evaluation of our intellectual capacity and capabilities.
Let us take the APA letter to the ART Secretariat asking them to block funds earned by Guyana’s LCDS program; funds destined to assist with development programmes in Indigenous villages. It is incomprehensible to me that an ‘association’ with the stated aim of representing the Indigenous community would act in such a counter-productive way. The only explanation is that it is a political group masquerading as ‘politically neutral’.
Most Guyanese easily recognize these masked crusaders and their bogus organizations as we live and breathe these issues and know where the truth lies. On the ‘cocktail circuit’ however, a different standard applies. In the words of a former British High Commissioner to Guyana, “We never send spies to Guyana; we have people falling over us at cocktail parties to give us information” to which he added “most of it is bunkum”.
It should be noted that not all High Commissioners are created equal and an over-reliance on this stream of misinformation is poisonous to our nation. It permeates the water table. It enters international reports on important issues such as corruption and human rights. If one were to look at the composition of the last Human Rights workshop held jointly by the British High Commission and GHRA, one would assume Guyana is a land of two races as participants were either Black or White. The absence of Indian, Amerindian, and Chinese descended Guyanese was marked and had a profound effect on the viewpoints expressed and dissected during the ‘workshop’.
The Indo-Guyanese is a unique cultural specimen and is quite unlike other Indian Diaspora communities globally. It is to the High Commission’s discredit that this is ignored and/or not explored fully. It may also be to the UK’s economic disadvantage as the Indo-Guyanese affinity to the USA is ever-growing in proportion to distrust of the UK’s motives and intentions based on their bias shown at this workshop and other HC events. It may be the self-esteem and confidence of the Indo-Guyanese are not suited to the foreign perception of how ‘third world’ peoples should behave and, the (ABCEU) are more comfortable with the company of the less self-assured (the whingers and whiners) and their fellow ‘whites’.
Even worse would be that these ‘workshops’ etc. are all designed to divide (and conquer). Guyana is a nation with very little racial discrimination and actual racists, but to listen to the cocktail crowd, one would think we are on the brink of civil war. It behooves those foreign actors that claim to want to help Guyana to develop to first work on themselves and to carefully discern the genuine from the ‘politically neutral’ when lending an ear to Guyanese concerns; as we locals say “nah tek yuh mattie eye fuh see”.
Sincerely
Robin Singh
