Latest update February 22nd, 2025 2:00 PM
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- Simplify cash grant distribution processes
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The Ministry of Finance replies
Dear Editor,
The Ministry of Finance read with deep dismay a letter written by Ali Hussain and published by your newspaper
on May 30, 2016 “The WPA and AFC has failed to tame the PNC”.
While we will not respond to the rambling generalizations that he has made regarding the roles of the WPA, PNC and AFC in the Coalition, we are constrained to respond to the allegation made against the Ministry of Finance that seems germane to his accusations against the APNU+AFC Coalition government.
The allegation that “someone that (he) know(s) very well had a senior position for years in the Finance Ministry (and that ) two inexperienced Afro Guyanese were hired at salaries greater than hers to eventually fill her position (and) to top it all she was told to train them, “ is patently untrue.
This reckless assumption by Mr. Hussain is dangerous and inimical to the small strides that Guyana is making to overcome the spectre of racism which has been the Achilles heel of this country. Not only has Mr. Hussain failed to produce any evidence of his allegation but you Mr. Editor, published this allegation without conducting any due diligence!
The Fourth Estate must be careful that it does not promote in any way allegations that are within and of themselves dangerously speculative. In this case, the writer clumsily alleges racism in the hiring practices of the Ministry of Finance without providing a single shred of credible evidence except for hearsay.
For the record, since the APNU+AFC administration came into office, only one senior Indian officer has resigned from the Ministry of Finance. The position she left is presently vacant. We’d also like to point out that all positions filled within the past year attracted highly qualified and experienced individuals.
Mr. Hussain craftily indicates that “it is not (his) intent to stir up racial sentiments and (he) debated with (him) self whether (he) should write this letter or not. But (he) decided that the hiring practices themselves promote racial discord and someone has to speak up about it.”
Well, Mr. Hussain, you have stirred up racial sentiments. And you compounded it by concluding that the hiring process at the Ministry of Finance is tainted by racism without proffering any evidence. So perhaps you should not have written the letter at all, as your allegation is based on hearsay and nothing else!
We hope that in the future, Mr. Editor, letters like this one will be carefully considered before being published. Not every letter is helpful or in this case truthful.
Wanita Huburn
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