UG’s Diaspora Engagement Conference is open to all Guyanese

Jun 12, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
The Diaspora Engagement Conference Secretariat of the University of Guyana has received the email from Ms. Mohamed about diversity in participation by Guyanese and other Caribbean nationals in the Diaspora Engagement Conference to which Dr. Dhanpaul Narine referred.
I replied as soon as I saw Ms. Mohamed’s email and told her that my reply to her comments would be enhanced if I were to know what organization she represented or if she was writing in her personal capacity. Ms. Mohamed has not yet answered. Ms. Mohamed is copied in this correspondence.
At the University of Guyana and the rest of Guyana if we focus for a moment on the Guyanese aspect of this Caribbean Diaspora Engagement process it has to be that the Guyanese who understand the need for all of us to work together to build Guyana just have to do what is necessary. It is the case that for various political and other calculations some just want to stoke racial tension and hatred in Guyana.
The conscious efforts to be inclusive which has guided the planning for the Diaspora Engagement Conference is going to be seen in the program of presentations which would be shared soon.
As noted on the conference website, this Conference which is of importance to the whole of CARICOM is going to be formally opened by the President of Guyana. The Vice Chancellor of The University of Guyana, in person, and also by means of a variety of surrogates within the PPP tried, as was appropriate, to get the Leader of the Opposition in Guyana, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, to give a keynote speech at the Diaspora Engagement Conference.
To date these efforts have not borne fruit. The VC has also tried to get Ms. Gail Teixeira, Opposition Chief Whip in Guyana to make a presentation at the Diaspora Engagement Conference. This effort has also being unsuccessful.
I am going to close by saying that we are still open to making space in the program for Mr. Jagdeo or Ms. Teixeira to make a presentation at the Diaspora Engagement Conference. It is real action that we are taking with this Diaspora Engagement Conference to establish a Diaspora Engagement Centre to deepen diaspora engagement in Guyana and Caribbean development, and the associated effort to get Diaspora engagement in the renaissance of the University of Guyana that is going to make a difference in Guyana. It is not looking on and counting numbers.
Fitzgerald (Gerry) Yaw, Ph.D.
University of Guyana

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