– refrain from spreading hate
President Irfaan Ali visited residents of Paradise/Belladrum, West Coast Berbice today where he assured them that his government intends to engage them closely on matters that affect them in the areas of agriculture, community development, and social affairs.
His engagement follows a meeting held with a community group last evening, where several issues affecting the community were raised.
“I am a President for all Guyana and I want to work with every community. I have asked the group to come together, representing the community, so that we can have continuous dialogue. This must not be a one-off dialogue. We have to see how we can work with the community to improve community life, community relations and to ensure that all our Guyanese brothers and sisters, everyone, has a better standard of living, a better way of living. I am here to support that. We want to build relationships and we want to build on programmes and policies that touch the lives of all Guyanese,” President Ali told the villagers who came out to see him.
They were open in sharing their concerns relating to their community and the President thanked them for that. The residents raised concerns about the support of agricultural activities, including rice cultivation and issues of youth and community development.
President Ali in turn spoke to the importance of continued dialogue for the success of community projects and encouraged the formation of working groups for structured development.
He said that the measures provided in the government’s Emergency Budget will bring even more benefits to Guyanese families.
“This approach by the Government is one that will see continuous engagement, meeting with communities, listening to communities. At the end of the day, we have to build a strong country, a resilient country, a country that is unified and one that represents the interest of all Guyanese, through the implementation of policies and programmes,” he told them.
Meanwhile, President Ali also iterated his stance on tensions that have erupted in Guyana since the murders of teenagers Joel Henry, Isaiah Henry, and Haresh Singh.
He said, “I addressed racist statements on social media and I just came from other communities who have the same fear. If we all have the same fear then we should all work on the same solution. That is why I said in my statement that we will address very sternly, using all the laws, those who are using social media to spread hate, those who are using social media to spread racism, and those who are using social media to divide us. That is why I also said, through the international Commission of Inquiry (COI), we have to examine all these statements. It does not help you, it does not help me, it does not help the community, it does not help the country. That is why I am out here today, to tell you that as President, I am leading a Government that wants to work with everybody.”
President Ali’s meeting with the Paradise/Belladrum community followed his visit to the relatives of slain teenagers in Number Three Village and the family of Prittipaul Hargobin who was also killed during the protest action that erupted along the West Coast Berbice corridor.
