Clearing the air on that meeting at the Critchlow Labour College

Sep 07, 2019 Letters

---

DEAR EDITOR,

On Thursday 29 August, 2019, the Honourable Minister of Citizenship, Minister Winston Felix and I met with African and Haitian nationals who had applied for citizenship and work permits. The nationals had many questions with regards to the status of their applications and needed clarification. We met at the Critchlow Labour College, which is a public place. MTV Channel 65 without interviewing anyone subsequently aired on its news cast a mischievous and grossly inaccurate representation of that meeting and also a video posted on YouTube entitled the “PNC plans got busted” by an MTV news reporter.
The reporters did not interview me, Minister Felix or anyone present, yet they concocted a malicious story about promises being made to the Haitian and African Nationals with regards to citizenships, work permits and paying off of tuition fees in exchange for votes. Let me be pellucid: no one was promised work permits, citizenship or assistance with paying off of tuition fees and more so in exchange for votes. It was simply a question and answer segment. The news report from Channel 65 is libelous and it is obvious that MTV Channel 65 is desperately trying to tarnish my character and reputation and this is repugnant.
I take this opportunity to remind everyone, that Haiti is one of the 15 full member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), of which Guyana is a founding member. Historically, Haiti has played one of the most important roles for emancipation in the western hemisphere, being second to the United States to free itself from colonial rule. Haitians are entitled to work permits under the tenets of Caribbean Single Market and Economy.
It is known that Channel 65 is a PPP biased media outlet. We should ask why the fueling of Xenophobic attacks against Africans whether it be Africans from the continent of Africa or Africans from Haiti? February 26, 2019 Inews states: “With 5,123 documented Venezuelan migrants in Guyana, efforts are being made to roll out a programme to help them become self-sufficient, the National Multi-Sectoral Coordinating Committee noted in a statement”. Guyana has extended the right hand of brotherhood to the Venezuelan nationals in Region One and they are being helped by the Australian Government and International Organisation of Migration (IOM). If this help is being extended to Venezuelan nationals why is it that help in the form of support and information must not be given to Haiti and African nationals who reach out to this nation for necessary support?
In 2018, it was reported in the media that 298 foreigners acquired citizenship in Guyana and some 979 other foreigners were granted an extension of stay and work permits. These 979 foreigners included 225 Cubans, 175 Chinese, 165 Americans, 120 Indians, 70 Philippinos, 75 Venezuelans, 59 British, 45 from The Dominican Republic, 30 from Trinidad and Tobago and 15 Surinamese. There was no outrage or protest from the PPP or PPP biased media outlets. The Guyana Times and the other PPP biased news media outlets simply reported the news in a mundane fashion. Note that there were no Africans from Haiti and the African continent in this group.
It is obvious that Guyana is a destination choice for those near and far and as of December 31, 2018, Guyana recorded a total of 286,732 visitors, which is a 15.93 percent increase from the 247,330 visitors Guyana welcomed in 2017. With thousands of visitors that we have had in this country and the hundreds that sought citizenship none has been treated more unfairly as the African and Haitian nationals by the PPP and their media outlets.
The xenophobic, inhospitable, unparalleled singling-out of African nationals and Haitians is suspected to be primarily because of their ethnicity, as there is no other plausible supposition. Such acts must be condemned in the strongest possible terms by all Guyanese and addressed by our competent authorities.
I call on the Ethnic Relations Committee (ERC) to investigate and sanction those who persist in the unsubstantiated allegations and unwarranted alarms against African and Haitian nationals in Guyana. These attacks by known PPP media news media outlets and against African nationals in Guyana obnoxious, racist and should be condemned by all. It is obvious that Bharrat Jagdeo and his PPP cronies are using the media as a means of race baiting and to cause racial division in this harmonious society.
I vehemently condemn the xenophobic and racist attacks against the African and Haitian nationals and the malicious attempt to stain my good character as this is a poor attempt to remove the public attention from the corrupt practices of the PPP in Region Nine where persons have been caught with fraudulent birth certificates.

Heath Retemyer

---

---