Latest update April 28th, 2026 12:30 AM
The Labour Minister did no wrong
Dear Editor,
Please allow me to comment on the RUSAL issue with particular reference to statements made by Rickford Burke (K.N. 6.4.10) and Juliet Holder-Allen (K.N. 10.04.10).
Mr. Burke either does not know the facts or has deliberately falsified the facts to suit his agenda. The facts were well publicised so I suggest he reads them; he quoted the law but this has been quoted by Mr. Lewis et al, so no need to regurgitate.
Ms Juliet Holder-Allen also made statements that are not factual and arrived at a decision that a no confidence motion should be moved against the government. As a former magistrate she should know that you have to judge the facts objectively and don’t ponder to emotion and racism.
Both writers said that Minister (Manzoor) Nadir is a jolly good fellow. Mr Burke – “I presume Minister Nadir to be a principled individual.” Ms Allen – “Mr. Nadir is one of the few persons in the PPP/C party whom I consider to be quite human and reasonable.”
Again, Ms Allen does not have her facts right; Mr. Nadir is leader of the T.U.F. not a PPP member.
If this good Minister who is principled and humane did not sanction RUSAL it has to be that the company is right and no law was broken. The Minister’s advisors, the Chief Labour Officer and the Deputy are both practising Attorneys-at-Law so the Minister had proper advice. If the race card is invoked, then the Deputy is an Afro Guyanese.
The writers echo the call by Mr. Lewis for His Excellency the President to intervene. Now if no law was broken then the call is for the President to intervene politically. But why should the President bail out Mr. Lewis? Mr. Lewis curses up the President and the government every week in the papers, and not only since the RUSAL issue surfaced but long, long before. You can’t be cursing someone and asking him for help.
Some workers asked Mr. Gonsalves to say: when last did the union hold a delegates ‘ conference;; when last was thei accounts audited; when last were the Annual Returns submitted. Mr. Gonsalves, instead of answering the questions, attacked the writers.
Mr. Burke and Ms Allen, if they care about the workers and are not playing politics, should ask the union to answer the questions. Don’t they care about how the workers dues were spent? Why not ask the union to comply with the law? They should ask the Registrar of Trade Unions why the union has not been struck off the Register for breaking the law and its own rules.
Akbar Khan
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