Beyond the Fresh Paint: A Hostel of Horrors and the Brutal Cost of Political Neglect

Dec 11, 2025 Letters

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Dear Editor,

In a stunning display of institutional hypocrisy, Guyana now benefits from over $400 million USD in carbon credit sales—revenue heralded by the President himself as a transformative national achievement. The profound irony, however, lies in the brutal contradiction at its core: these funds exist solely because of the generations of stewardship by Indigenous communities, who have preserved the biodiverse forests that generate these very certificates. Yet, the very people who laid this green gold foundation are systematically denied basic human dignity in state-run hostels, suffering in overcrowded and squalid conditions. This is the ultimate injustice: the stewards of the land are relegated to neglect, while neo-colonial extractive interests, which ravage the same environment, are celebrated and welcomed with red carpets and preferential treatment.

Editor, the locked doors that barred Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed from the Amerindian Hostel on Princess Street on Sunday morning was more than a political stunt; it was a metaphor. It symbolizes a government that would rather hide its failures than face its people, that prioritizes fresh paint on exteriors over dignity for human beings within. While the Minister of Amerindian Affairs tours with photo opportunities, eventually shows up without a clue as to how to address the current status quo, when confronted with the facts. Alluding to design plans awaiting presidential approval, while failing to commit to offering solutions to alleviate the current deplorable situation.

This directly speaks to the minister’s ability to effectively fulfill her mandate. Her immediate response exposes a stark reality,” that within the PPP, you are appointed not by qualifications but by connections.” As the people’s representatives, it’s imperative we expose the appalling reality festering behind those closed doors: a state-funded institution that is not a refuge, but a chamber of profound neglect.

Credible reports from within paint a picture of sheer inhumanity, of unimaginable scale in this oil rich economy flush with largesse and excesses.  This is a place where the most vulnerable are sent to suffer. Imagine a paralyzed, bedridden man, an amputee, and a stroke victim sharing an untidy, sweltering room. The hostel is described as extremely hot, with no fans or air conditioning for relief. The beds are unfit, with thin mattresses, placed so close together that residents contract scabies. The washrooms are non-functional, forcing people to fetch buckets of water to flush toilets, with no cleaning supplies in sight. The food is subpar, the water pressure unstable, and the building is infested with rats. This is not care; it is state-sanctioned squalor.

The government’s sin is not merely one of omission, but of active, duplicitous complicity. While the exterior gets a cosmetic coat of paint, the interior conditions are allowed to rot in obscurity. This is the very definition of political theater—investing in the optics of progress while denying the substance of humanity. Where are the government’s own Amerindian representatives? Their silence in the face of this atrocity reduces their roles to mere symbols, patronized tokens used to fulfill a political narrative while their own people suffer. Their failure to advocate is a betrayal.

This neglect has a human cost too grave to ignore. We are reminded that this very hostel was the site of a profound tragedy, where a young Indigenous male was reported to have taken his own life. While the full circumstances are investigated, such an event in a place of such documented despair screams of a system that has failed in its most basic duty of care. Furthermore, this is not an isolated case. Reports from another Amerindian hostel in Region 1 describe a “dreadful state,” raising alarming questions about a systemic pattern of abandonment.

The decision to deny the presumptive Leader of the Opposition entry is therefore a damning admission of guilt. What is there to hide if your government is accountable and transparent? The answer is everything: the evidence of broken promises, the proof of abused trust, and the visible suffering that contradicts every hollow slogan of “One Guyana.” This action proves that the government fears scrutiny more than it values the welfare of its Indigenous citizens.

This is a call to conscience. We demand the Minister of Amerindian Affairs address these catastrophic conditions immediately. But we also issue a wider condemnation: the abuse of Guyana’s first people must end. The means to do better are there; what is missing is the political will, replaced instead by a willful blindness. The world is watching. The people are suffering. The time for empty gestures is over. We will not cease our advocacy until every hostel door is open, every room is humane, and every Indigenous person in this country receives the respect and care that is their fundamental right. The line has been drawn.

Yours truly,
Hemdutt Kumar

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• Hemdutt Kumar, hostel, Letters, Political Neglect

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