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Dear Editor,
The Office of the President acknowledged receipt of two letters (attached) from diaspora advocate Wayne Forde about severe diaspora-related concerns. The President’s office stated that President Ali instructed the Foreign Secretary, Robert Persaud, to respond to the two letters dispatched by Mr. Forde.
On Thursday, August 19, 2021, the Confidential Secretary in the Office of the President confirmed for a second time that President Ali instructed the Foreign Secretary to respond to the communique from Mr. Forde.
The Foreign Secretary ignored both requests from President Ali to respond. The first letter was dispatched to the Office of the President on July 25, 2021. When there was no response, Mr. Forde sent a second letter on August 1, 2021. detailing a significant loss of diaspora data with vital personal/professional identification information by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Excerpt from letter #2:
“More than 7,700 Guyanese individuals and organizations participated in sharing their names, addresses, skills, education level, interest in contributing to Guyana, and other demographic, psychographic, and personal information.
Today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot locate the data or identify where it was stored.” This matter is critical to the more than 800,000 Guyanese living abroad.
Sincerely,
Wayne Forde
