Another minority subject to troubling behaviour in the PNCR

Apr 06, 2023 Letters

Dear Editor,

We have breaking news that General Secretary of the PNCR, Dawn Hastings-Williams, was denied entry into the party’s headquarters in Sophia. If true, this is a troubling development because, of recent, minorities in the PNC/R have been treated with alarming disrespect. Leader Aubrey Norton should make every effort to clarify what is happening in the party, because the public has a right to know.

In December 2022, the General Secretary of the PNCR was apparently prevailed upon to resign. According to media reports, Geeta Chandon-Edmond “endured” a lot in the PNCR since Mr. Norton became Leader. The Guyana Chronicle also reported that Ms. Chandon-Edmond “resigned after growing concerns that she was not allowed to fully function in her capacity as GS” (15/12/2022).

Only a month later, in January 2023, another minority related scandal broke out. This time People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Treasurer, Faaiz Mursalin, resigned — apparently in protest against having to sign blank cheques. A taped telephone conversation among PNCR Executive Member Ganesh Mahipaul, PNCR Executive Member Roysdale Forde, and Faaiz Mursalin basically confirmed that the blank cheque issue was central to the latter resignation from the PNCR.

Based on a media interview with Mr. Mahipaul, the public learnt that Mursalin “…informed the two party members of a number of eyebrow-raising concerns, including that he was called to Congress Place on many occasions and ordered to sign numerous blank cheques, as party Treasurer” (Guyana Times, 16/1/2023). Further, Mursalin “who is of East Indian descent, detailed in the letter that he was subjected to racial abuse by a well-known PNCR member” (Ibid).

Things got even worse in mid-March when the PNC/R tolerated the racially-charged call by the WPA’s Executive Member, Tacuma Ogunseye, to turn the guns in the right direction. What was implied is so diabolical, it should not be repeated here. The sad, but also alarming thing, is that it took the East Indians, and only them, to condemn Ogunseye’s inflammatory discharge. Had Ganesh Mahipaul, Natasha Singh-Lewis, Daniel Seeram, and Georgetown Mayor, Ubraj Narine not spoken up against Ogunseye, no one in the PNC/R would have. The minorities in the PNC/R were ‘thrown under the bus’. I expected at least the Hon. Annette Ferguson to say something, given her frequency in the press about discrimination.

After all of these glaring instances of mistreatment of minorities in the PNC/R, one would think the party leadership would be extra careful. But here we are again, only one month later, with yet another case of disrespecting another minority woman in the PNC/R.

The PNCR has very low ratings in the public, and these glaring instances of disrespecting minorities will only push them further down. As for minorities in the PNC/R, they should stand up and be counted. Stand up for your right!

Sincerely,

Dr. Randolph Persaud

Dawn Hastings-Williams, Dr. Randolph Persaud, Geeta Chandon-Edmond, General Secretary, PNCR

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