Last
week some 1200 men and women of the Rupununi, mainly Amerindians, addressed a petition to President Granger requesting the removal of the Regional Executive Officer (REO), Carl Parker. They levelled fourteen grounds of rights violations against him, ranging from sexual harassment, labour law infringement and political discrimination. The petition claimed that Parker was failing at his professional obligations ever since he was appointed REO almost a year ago.
It is true that complaints on varying issues have been cumulating over the months, in particular from women and regional employees and workers. But the two things that are as troubling as these accusations, are the indifference of the authorities which would have received complaints from victims, as well as the fear of victims to stand up to Parker. Many of them claim they are afraid of losing their jobs or being discriminated against.
The petition was perhaps their last plea for help but judging from the response provided by the Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, the Government of Guyana seems little inclined to act on a resolution. Instead, Bulkan has lashed out at the petition, and according to one online news source, declared that “several signatures were bogus” since there seemed to be “similarities” in how they were written. In his defense, and after having denied knowledge of the wrongs of which he is being accused, Parker claimed that Berlinda Duncan, the petitioner who signed on behalf of the others, “does not have the capacity to write that letter”.
So here, we have a Minister of Government who immediately tries to discredit the petition, and a Regional Executive Officer who when cornered, insinuates that Amerindians are not educated enough to be able to petition for their rights. While one can understand Parker’s attempt to diminish the validity of the petition in his defence, it is disturbing that the Minister of Communities, and by extent the Government of Guyana, chose to take a position which seems more apt at defending Parker’s questionable integrity as an REO, rather than consider that Amerindians are actually suffering from varying degrees of discrimination. Typography seems more important to the Minister of Communities, than the reason why the signatures were affixed to the petition.
In all evidence, Bulkan’s expressed doubts suggest that this Government is more predisposed to politicising the petition as a means of protecting those in its camp, in lieu of addressing the concerns of Guyanese citizens who have special rights as indigenous peoples.
This is not quite unlike the manner in which the Volda Lawrence, Joseph Harmon, and Winston Harding cases were shrugged off by the powers that be, implying that what is more vital is the protection of politicians at the detriment of democracy and the people. Similar trends were observed under the former administration, where for instance, one Minister, currently a Member of Parliament, was charged for a multimillion dollar fraud, but to date is allowed to sit in Parliament.
Guyanese, in particular those who voted for the slogan of “change” and “anti-corruption”, must now take it upon themselves to ensure that the resources of this country are not channelled into protecting political tyrants and corrupt elements. While democracy is confined to a world where governments determine how much power people are actually allowed to control, the collective consciousness must strive to maintain that balance that prevents us from falling into the trap of power abuse by politicians.
This Government’s neglect for the concerns of Guyanese translates the improbability of Guyana attaining that balance in the near future. The attitude of the Minister of Communities in addressing the petition is synonymous of the lack of accountability and the opacity which shrouds this Government’s leadership.
In the past, Amerindians took it upon themselves to petition the Government of Guyana and to file lawsuits which invoked international support, through frameworks designed to protect their rights when the Government is failing.
Precisely for this reason, the Government of Guyana must not omit that Amerindians are part of a greater nation of indigenous peoples which transcends all geographical borders, and that violating their rights is not just a slap in the face of our first peoples, but a blow to every indigenous woman, man and child who faces the same neglect and prejudice from governments worldwide.
