Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton has stated that neither he nor the People’s National Congress (PNC)-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) coalition will condemn Working People’s Alliance (WPA) executive David Hinds for his series of racist and derogatory remarks. “I don’t know about disparaging remarks,” Norton said in response to questions during his party’s press conference on Friday.
Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton
Hinds recently expressed that PNC’s Daniel Seeram was only given his position in the party because of his ethnicity, stating that “when you’re an Indian, you rise up quickly in the black party—at the expense of some black members” and that “here’s an Indian man rewarded by the votes of Africans”.
In the past, Hinds referred to PNC’s then General Secretary Geeta Chandan-Edmond as a “slave catcher”.
In February 2025, Hinds during his “Politics 101” programme, hurled a series of insults at Afro-Guyanese, calling them “lick bottoms,” “house slaves,” and “sell outs”, among others. In all these cases, Norton and the PNC/APNU have refused to condemn Hinds.
Now, the PNC/APNU have teamed up to contest the upcoming General and Regional Elections on September 1.
On Friday, Norton was again asked by the media whether he will condemn Hinds over his divisive comments.
WPA leader, David Hinds
However, the PNC leader and presidential hopeful said, “I know for a fact that David is passionate about whatever and mind you, we are not answerable for the WPA.”
Norton went on to say that, “we engage David hinds, we believe he’s a very intelligent person. We know what his beliefs are, we will work together, but there is no way we will condemn David. He has a right as a member of the WPA, just as others, have a right to express his views.”
“When his views conflict, we will have to deal with it,” Norton added.
He also pointed out that “David Hinds has been in politics long, he obviously knows that he has to choose what he says and I think if he chooses to go whichever road he went down, it is after a conscious decision…”
In March 2023, WPA’s Tacuma Ogunseye faced widespread criticism after alleging that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) was using law enforcement agencies to “execute” Africans. He also urged members of his ethnic group—particularly those within the Joint Services—to be “battle ready” for a “fight”.
While Ogunseye was strongly condemned by a wide cross-section of society over his inflammatory statements, Norton refused to speak up. Norton instead described the utterances from the WPA member as just “poor choice of words” and noted that Ogunseye’s right to free speech must be respected.
In spite of these developments, the PNC is promising the electorate that it will fix race relations in the country. On its website, the PNC states that “…improving race relations depends on establishing mutual respect and shared understandings among the races. We in the PNCR/APNU have identified race relations as one of national priorities.”
