No apartheid system emerging in Guyana – AG

The recent appointment of the Board of Directors under the Natural Resources Fund Act showcases the PPP/C Government’s inclusivity and effort at ensuring transparency and accountability.
Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall said the composition of the Board dismisses the idea that Guyana is an emerging apartheid state.
The idea of Guyana becoming an apartheid state is being peddled by the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana. The group had proposed to have a discussion themed, “Resisting the Emerging Apartheid State”.
Apartheid is any system or practice that separates people according to colour, ethnicity, or caste, according to the Oxford Dictionary.
During his weekly programme “Issues in the News”, the Attorney General pointed out that the recently appointed NRF Board of Directors is made up of one Amerindian, two Indo-Guyanese and two Afro-Guyanese.
The Board of Directors is responsible for the management of the monies derived from Guyana’s most valuable natural resource.
The Attorney General said that to suggest Guyana is becoming an apartheid state is evil, destructive and most of all, unlawful and unconstitutional.
“The laws and legal system of Guyana outlaws racism and racial segregation of every type. The supreme law of the country says that no law shall discriminate. No action of the state shall discriminate. How can you have apartheid as a system emerging anywhere?”, the Legal Affairs Minister questioned.
The attempt has also been described by the Attorney General as “bizarre” on the basis that many Afro-Guyanese hold prominent positions in all sectors. He said in Government alone, many of the Ministries are led by not only Afro-Guyanese Ministers but also Permanent Secretaries.
He further pointed out that the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Police Force, and the Judicial System are all led by persons of African descent.
“It is a constitutional wrong. It is a crime under the Racial Hostilities Act for this type of language to be published at this type of narrative to be disseminated and as Attorney General, I consider it my duty to speak out against these sordid but serious constitutional atrocities and human rights travesty. This is a human rights travesty. They are pitting one human being against the other based upon race and appealing to people’s basal instincts. They want to make Indo-Guyanese the enemy of Afro-Guyanese,” the Attorney General said.
Only recently, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo at a press conference called out IDPADA-G for using the cause of Afro-Guyanese to enrich themselves. During the press conference, he challenged the group to show how they spent almost $500 million they have received from the Government to empower Guyanese.
The Vice President, at the same press conference disclosed that it is the PPP/C Government that has done more to empower and include Afro-Guyanese in Guyana’s development when compared to the previous Administration.