Min. Norton distances himself from “inappropriate” MOPH claims

Jan 05, 2020 News

Dr. George Norton, the Minister of Social Cohesion, Culture, Youth and Sport, has denied providing any comments to iNews Guyana, an online media site, in regards to Ministry of Public Health’s “inappropriate” declarations, which confined the government agency to one religion.

Minister of Social Cohesion, Dr. George Norton

On the Public Health Ministry’s Facebook page, the Ministry shared a post they created captioned “Declarations for 2020… We make the following Declarations on the Basis on the Word of God…”
The post went on to make statements such as, “We declare the Lordship of Jesus Christ over the health sector, and that in this year 2020, we will fear God and obey his commandments.”
The Public Health Ministry was quick to come under criticism for their post, after persons reminded that Guyana is a secular country. This means it purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, support neither religion nor irreligion.
It was stated in the article that iNews Guyana published that, “Social Cohesion Minister Dr. George Norton has deemed a social media post by the Ministry of Public Health “inappropriate”, saying it goes against the promotion of unity.”
The online media site went on to claim that Minister Norton was at the time unaware of the incident, however when asked it was appropriate for a government agency to identify with one religion, he responded noting that it is “certainly not…because we’re a secular state, there is no doubt about it.”
However, when contacted by this publication, Minister Norton emphatically stated that he provided no comments on the aforementioned issue.
“It is unfortunate that it is carried in other parts of the media that I said it is “inappropriate”. So sad… I never called out the Ministry of Public Health on any statement they made.”
The Minister has asked the publications to recant their publications and his alleged statements.
Meanwhile, Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha and other key religious agencies have called for the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) to intervene and conduct an investigation into the matter.