Latest update February 7th, 2025 2:57 PM
Apr 13, 2016 News
– as NGOs continue picket action for Minister Lawrence’s reassignment
“We have major governance issues,” Women and Children’s Rights Activist, Karen DeSouza, asserted yesterday.
DeSouza who is a member of Red Thread, a local Non-Governmental
Organisation (NGO), was at the time commenting on her belief that too little information has been forthcoming from Government regarding recent disclosures about Minister of State, Joseph Harmon.
Harmon has recently been embroiled in contentious activities including granting local businessman, Brian Tiwarie of BK International, an honorific Ministerial Advisor appointment in mid-January. Soon after the appointment was publicised by this publication it was rescinded by President David Granger.
The Minister of State has also been accused of coming to the rescue of Chinese logging company Bai Shan Lin when attempts were made by the Guyana Revenue Authority to redeem outstanding taxes.
Harmon in recent days has also been refusing to speak directly to the media about his reported controversial involvements, but has instead given a report of a visit to China through the Government Information Agency.
According to DeSouza, “although we (Red Thread) have not discussed this issue, I believe things would be a lot clearer if the Government or Mr. Harmon himself spoke, and explain what really is going on.”
DeSouza’s remarks were forthcoming yesterday even as she along with other human rights activists picketed the eastern side of Vlissengen Road overlooking the Ministry of the Presidency.
It has been over a month since a number of NGOs, including Red Thread, Help and Shelter and Grassroots Women Across Race, along with a few private individuals, have joined forces to call for the removal of Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence. This was in the wake of Minister Lawrence’s failure to speak out against an accused child molester.
Government had thrown its support behind Winston Harding as an APNU+AFC candidate during the run-up to the recently held Local Government Elections (LGE). Harding was accused of sexually molesting a minor.
However, after reports of the sexual molestation accusation surfaced in Stabroek News, a daily newspaper, Government decided to withdraw its support for Harding. He, nevertheless, managed to be successful at the elections and has thus gained a place at the City Council.
But ahead of Government’s move to withdraw its support, Lawrence was quoted in some sections of the media saying that the allegation of sexual assault against Harding was in fact a family matter. The Minister’s comment had evoked the concern of the NGOs and other individuals which saw them spearheading protest action.
Speaking on the issue yesterday, Help and Shelter’s Danuta Radzik noted that “we think it is wrong and he (Harding) is now in the Council. We do not think that the Council should have persons who have been accused of child molesting…he was actually charged, we know that, there is record and it is one of those cases that is not completed as yet.”
“I think that when you are under investigation, etc., it is inappropriate, it is morally indefensible to have a person in a City Council, and the Minister’s comments were unfortunate, because many of us have fought for many years to make sure that issues of child abuse and child sexual abuse are not treated as family issues and dampened down.
“So we don’t intent to go back to those days. So when the Minister said this is a family issue and should be handled through the courts we completely disagree with her, because all it does is emboldens abusers of children…and it also calls into question the APNU+AFC stance on sexual violence and the Sexual Offences Act,” Radzik stated.
According to DeSouza, it is hoped that the protest action would serve to force Government to reassign the Social Protection Minister even as the law takes its course in the matter of involving the allegations of sexual molestation.
But given the fact that government has not been taking swift action in some issues of concern to the public, DeSouza has deduced that “clearly it is business as usual. It appears as if it is party above child care and protection…it is as if they are saying ‘we will close ranks and protect each other, rather than do the hard work of investigating and making sure that children are properly taken care of’. That is what we have seen. We have been seeing this for a long time and the reason Red Thread exists is because this kind of behaviour is so common,” added DeSouza.
The Activist continued by adding that “One would have hoped that this Government that has promised so much would begin by doing things differently, unfortunately it is the ‘same ole, same ole’.”
She, however, asserted that “we will continue to speak out and we will continue to stand up until the systems are put in place to protect children and other vulnerable groups.
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