Dear
President Granger,
While women around the world marched to remind US President Donald Trump that women’s rights are human rights, one of our own Guyanese women is fighting for her voice to be heard.
I am forced to think that neither you nor your administration believes in justice and the upholding of women’s rights in Guyana. Instead, your administration continues to protect the REO assigned to Region 9, Carl Parker, despite the many allegations levelled against him by Rupununi residents, since his appointment in 2015. Both you and Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan were asked by victims, regional authorities and NGOs, to investigate the allegations and apply the Law where necessary. Yet, both of you have refused to lift a finger. It might do you well to remember that you were elected to serve in the interest of the Guyanese people to whom you promised “change”, but instead you are reneging on your responsibilities in your pursuit to shield your protégé from the eyes of the Law.
By now you are aware that sexual abuse and abuse of power are the recurrent complaints against Parker. You and Minister Bulkan would recall a District Education Officer, Ms Atkinson, to be the first to resort to the public arena with allegations of victimisation and sexual abuse against Parker, in a desperate attempt to draw attention to get assistance. Atkinson had even written to the Education Ministry to be relocated, but to no avail. Minister Bulkan turned a deaf ear to the woman’s ordeal and to the grievances of the people of the Rupununi.
Eventually, the frustration of the Region 9 residents culminated in the Rupununi Petition of April 11, 2016, addressed directly to you, by twelve hundred (1200) Amerindians who implored you to remove Carl Parker on the basis on fourteen (14) infractions of civil and human rights. These include corruption, sexual harassment and political discrimination in discharging his duties as a political appointee and senior regional executive. The civil sector also pleaded on behalf of the Rupununi people but neither you nor Minister Bulkan accorded us a hearing. Almost a year later, you have done nothing to address the petition.
Now Mr. President, you are confronted with the consequences of your laxity and indifference, as a young aspiring politician of the Peoples National Congress (PNC) is accusing her comrade, Carl Parker, of sexually molesting her. Like Ms Atkinson, Lethem’s Deputy Mayor, Maxine Welch, sought your help and that of Minister Bulkan before filing a complaint with the Police with hopes of obtaining justice. But instead, Attorney General Basil Williams was dispatched to Lethem to hush the matter.
Mr. President, your attitude in handling the Carl Parker problem has enabled me to better understand the reluctance of former Social Protection Minister Volda Lawrence, in prioritizing the combat against the societal scourge of rape and sexual harassment, as well as her inclination to defend child molesters. For Minister Lawrence, it didn’t matter whether another PNC official “deflowered” a child since to her this is but a mere “family issue” to be dealt with in-house. Likewise, it matters not to you that a possible pathological sexual abuser roams freely in the Rupununi, as long as he remains free from legal judgement and spares the PNC the shame.
This modus operandi reflects the true nature of the regime you head today: one which has little respect for the Law and one which places partisan interests and political tyrants above citizens. It is one which mocks the very principles of democracy and denies the women who chose to stand up in the face of injustice, their constitutional rights. It defies the very concept of social cohesion and impedes the establishment of the “national unity” government you ardently pledged to create.
The truth is President Granger, the societal malaise which reigns presently in Guyana, mirrors your ineptitude to fulfill your promises. But as I continue to maintain, we Guyanese are a people of resolve and our women are the force of this country. We have grown tired of the misogyny and sexism which relegate women to second class citizens daily, and unfortunately for Parker and the PNC, intimidation and promises of grandeur no longer suffice to silence us.
Mr. President, we will not be deterred from our quest for justice and our rights as equals to men. We will not relent in our fight against those who use power to abuse us. Not even those of your regime. Not even you.
