– to take matter to International bodies
The APNU+AFC Coalition said it will make formal complaints to a number of international bodies regarding the attacks on Member of Parliament, Amanza Walton-Desir who was fired and then villified in the press by Works Minister Juan Edghill.
Edghill sought to make a connection between Walton-Desir’s dismissal and her performance on the job. “APNU+AFC maintains that Ms. Walton-Desir was terminated for political reasons and at the direction of Edghill and we shall provide support to her in taking legal action to the fullest extent of the law,” the coalition said in a statement.
“Further, consistent with our previously stated commitment, APNU+AFC intends to formally write to Guyana Public Service Union, the International Labour Organization, Amnesty International, United Nations, International Civil Aviation Organization and other international agencies to inform them of this latest act of gross PPP political persecution which has become rampant since August 2nd, 2020,” the statement added.
The coalition said it is aghast by the odious, calculated political persecution of Walton-Desir executed by Edghill- a pastor of city-basef church via the Department of Public Information.
The coalition said Edghill, in his protracted tirade, slandered Ms. Walton-Desir, an attorney-at-law, a professional woman and a sitting Member of Parliament. “Mr. Edghill brazenly announced to the nation that he demanded Ms. Walton-Desir’s employment file at the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority. This is entirely out of order, improper and the height of authoritarianism. Had Minister Edghill been interested in informing himself on the issue of Ms. Walton-Desir’s termination he ought to have acted properly and responsibly by requesting a report from the GCAA’s Director General.” “For a minister to request the employment file of a member of staff of an agency within his portfolio is tantamount to political interference and in fact confirms that Edghill is the intellectual author of Ms. Walton-Desir’s termination. ”
The party said Edghill, in a display of ministerial thuggery, proceeded further to disclose confidential details of Ms. Walton-Desir’s employment file and use these to impugn her character in a repugnant display of arrogance and lawlessness.
“This is a chilling development which will drive fear in the hearts and minds of all public servants – that ministers are now demanding their employment files for perusal. Every public servant is now exposed to unbridled political persecution at the hands of the vindictive, lawless and dictatorial PPP regime,” the statement read.
The National Assembly agreed some years ago not to expose the names of public servants and certain conditions of service during the examination of budget estimates.
“Edghill acted way beyond the parameters of acceptable conduct, indulged in misconduct in public office and will suffer the legal consequences for his abhorrent and nauseating actions in maligning Ms. Walton-Desir, who has 17 years experience as a practicing attorney,” the coalition said.
” We take note of a pattern of PPP conduct of targeting professional women and executing vile attacks against them. It is evident that the insecure bigots in the PPP feel threatened by these strong, professional, competent women. Ms. Walton-Desir clinically dismantled and exposed the PPP’s deplorable budget today and unable to respond within the National Assembly, Edghill slithered away, targeted her and retaliated in a most vicious manner,” the statement concluded.
