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Overseas based group protests PM Phillips’ first visit to Atlanta
Kaieteur News – A Guyanese group calling themselves the “Concerned Guyanese Patriots of Georgia” last Friday protested a visit by Prime Minister Mark Phillips and other government officials who arrived in the United States for an Independence Day Diaspora outreach in Atlanta.
Protestors stood opposite the Four Seasons Hotel using sirens, loud speakers and signs to draw attention to what they say are the “atrocities” taking place in Guyana regarding the management of the oil and gas sector and the “unequal” dissemination of wealth and “attack” on the rights of citizens.
Georgia resident and Chairman of the group, Dalton Benn told the Kaieteur News that they were protesting the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government over the mismanagement of the oil sector and the violation of citizens’ rights following numerous incidents occurring in the country.
Benn said that it does not appear that the government is seeking the best from the oil sector for Guyana, nor are they equally sharing the oil wealth.
He told the newspaper that when the government speaks about ‘One Guyana’, it appears to be speaking about the supremacy of one group and the suppression of others.
Members of the ‘Concerned Guyanese Patriots of Georgia’ group protesting outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Atlanta.
“We don’t want to hear anything about ‘One Guyana’ because to them that means domination, a one-party state. We know about ‘One people, One nation, One destiny’ and that is what we want to see, equality for all Guyanese.”
Benn insisted that the PPP government is not offering citizens of an oil producing nation what it deserves. “What we are seeing are people’s homes being bulldozed without anywhere to go… injustice and no accountability”.
Just recently, he continued 20 Amerindian children died in a fire in Mahdia and no one in authority was held responsible. He also pointed to what he claims is the use of State security forces to pacify and intimidate citizens.
The group’s executive member, Novella Noble said there is a disparity in terms of access to resources, and opportunities for people in Guyana. Young people, she said, have no pathway to the benefits of oil and gas, as they lack access to education, information and resources.
“What has happened, it is the least of those that are not gaining, rather the elites are those benefiting most from the oil sector.”
As it relates to environmental issues, Noble expressed concern over the unlimited access she said is granted to Exxon and partners over the oil sector and its management. “No checks and balances, whether from an environmental standpoint, governance, accountability, there is nothing,” she opined.
Compared to the profit Exxon and other oil companies are making, Noble said, Guyanese everywhere should be upset over what the country is getting for its oil. Apart from the revenue, she said the government is also allowing the environment to be placed at risk by not having the proper insurance for the oil sector.
Noble said she left Guyana some 30 years ago but never forgot her roots. Living in the U.S., she said, has allowed her to understand what democracy is and Guyana has a great opportunity to build itself along this path but not until the oil revenue benefits all of the country’s people.
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