Diaspora Unit should comprise staff of unquestioned integrity and experience

May 20, 2021 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
I agree with the advice proffered by veteran commentator, Dr. Vishnu Bisram, of the need for a formal diaspora engagement policy (KN May 17). Dr. Bisram related the work of Mr. Ashook Ramsaran and himself in advocating for the Indian and Guyanese Diasporas going back for the last 30 years. But Dr. Bisram underrated and under-stated the role of others, specifically Afro-Guyanese, who championed a diaspora policy. Several other individuals besides Bisram and Ramsaran and organisations have championed a diaspora policy especially over the last several years when the coalition was in government. They all should be applauded for their efforts at promoting Guyana abroad and for lobbying the Guyana government for a diaspora policy. The David Granger Administration disappointed the diaspora, particularly Afro-Guyanese who placed so much hope in him.
Unlike during the 1980s, today the size of the diaspora and their overseas born descendants may be twice the size of the population of Guyana. They can be a tremendous asset to Guyana if properly harnessed. There has not been an effective diaspora policy for the first nine months of this administration. The Ali administration has started off badly just like Ramotar’s. Granger had the right policy in his manifesto but implemented nothing. What took place over the last nine months is a harbinger of what is to come. Nothing much would change over the next four years except that in 2025 there would be a new administration given the type of governance over the last nine months.
Regrettably, as Dr. Bisram pointed out, succeeding governments have not been serious about a diaspora policy. They engaged the diaspora for public consumption. Previous diaspora engagement sessions were all feel good talk shops just to tell overseas Guyanese what they wanted to hear, so they would be motivated to donate money to corrupt politicians who really don’t give a hoot about the diaspora.
Would the May 22 engagement conference be any different? The Foreign Secretary, Mr. Robert Persaud, reportedly said this engagement would be different from those in the past. Is Robert Persaud the right person to engage the diaspora? Did he not jump ship in May 2015 and courted APNU? When it appeared that PPP would win in March 2020, did he not abandon APNU and returned to the PPP? He said that the Ali government values the role of the diaspora in development and is very serious about courting their investment. That being the case, why hasn’t the government recruited individuals of impeccable character and integrity and expertise in the field to liaise with and or to engage the diaspora?
An examination of some individuals connected with the May 22 diaspora conference (KN May 16) reveal a lack of experience and expertise in diaspora affairs. There also seems to be some kinds of incestuous ties between organisers of the parley and members of the government and their business associates. As an illustration, Robert Persaud is the nephew-in-law of Jagdeo. Rosalind Rasul was employed with the Ramroop group of companies and Dynamic Airlines (of Sonny Ramdeo fame) that went bankrupt; KN exposed the scandal relating to that carrier. Ramroop and Ali and Jagdeo are partners. Fazal Yussuff, employed by this government at the New York Consulate and is reportedly overseeing the conference, is married to Robert Persaud’s relative. Yussuff’s name made the news in New York daily newspapers a few years ago for misleading legislators in a hearing in a management scandal at Rikers Island prison where he held a leadership position. Was he forced to leave the New York City job? Ali and Jagdeo should travel around and hear “the nice things” being said about Robert Persaud and some others that the government appointed. A one-term government is in the making.
How can anyone take the diaspora conference seriously with those kinds of characters and the linkage with the political leadership? The appointment of these characters says a lot of how the government feels about and views the diaspora. Why are only politicians addressing the conference? Is there no role for community leaders and scholars like Profs Ivelaw Griffith and Paul Tennasse, Floyd Haynes, among others, who study the diaspora? The staff who court the diaspora and is charged with overseeing diaspora affairs should have impeccable character and unquestioned integrity. There should have been a clean slate not a return to old baggage. And yes, I endorse the recommendation there should be a proper structure to engage the diaspora.

Yours truly,
Thomas Whitehead

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