The PPP’s position
In the first article, the general topic of racism, what it is, and how to recognise it were discussed.
In this, the second article in this multi-part series, we examine the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) position on the matter, and by extension, the PPP Government’s policies, positions and actions.
The position of the PPP is not at all clear or easily understood. PPP officials have, on many occasions, denied totally and completely that racism exists in Guyana. At the same time. Officials of the ruling regime have occasionally said that the PPP administration is working to foster cohesion and “oneness” while accusing the political opposition led by the People’s National Congress (PNC) of stoking the flames of racism. Those are two mutually exclusive positions; both of them cannot be true at the same time. As such, it appears that the PPP may be confused about its own official standing on the topic.
While this article is about the PPP’s position — a subsequent piece will consider the position of the Opposition in detail — it must be mentioned that the political opposition has maintained that the PPP, as an organisation, is racist and practices discrimination. Furthermore, the Opposition has consistently said that such discrimination is directed against Guyanese who are of non-Indian origin, particularly African Guyanese.
Representatives of various Indigenous groups — as well as Indigenous individuals have also accused the PPP of discrimination against Guyana’s First Peoples.
Readers will recall that in Part 1 of this series, racism was defined as the belief that there are races with inherent differences which determine their abilities, and generally that some races are superior, and others are inferior. Racial discrimination is defined as the physical manifestation of that belief — a belief that has been thoroughly discredited by experts in various disciplines.
Racism denial by the PPP
In September of last year, Public Service Minister, Sonia Parag, was interviewed; she said that any claims of racism or discrimination have no basis.
The PPP minister said, “All the statistics are there to prove for themselves, so you know, the talk of discrimination is really just a narrative for people to buy into so that [the Opposition] can have some sort of relevance.”
Minister Parag said, too, “We don’t discriminate against any community…. Every programme that has been rolled out has been for the benefit of all Guyanese across the 10 administrative regions.
Again, our stats are there to prove that we have been catering, and will continue to always cater for the welfare of all Guyanese.”
Racism denial is nothing new in the ranks of the PPP. In March 2006 during the previous iteration of the PPP regime, the then Minister of Human Services Bibi Shaddick reported to the Office of the Commissioner Of Human Rights of the United Nations. The minister’s report stated that “Historically, political representation in Guyana had been perceived as based on ethnic and racial affiliation, but that was only a perception. In recent elections [the PPP which is said to have Indian support] had received 53 per cent of the popular vote, but the recent census showed that East Indians comprised only 43 per cent of the population.”
In other words, the minister pronounced that there is no connection between race and political preference in Guyana.
During her delivery of that same report concerns were raised about the rights of Indigenous Guyanese by Mario Jorge Yutzis, the Committee Expert acting as Country Rapporteur for Guyana.
Mr. Yutzis noted that the Amerindians had not been involved in the preparation of the report or in the presentation. Mr. Yutzis said, “Their names had not been heard, such as the Arawaks and the Patamona.” He would not mention them all, he said, but they had not appeared in the report or in the presentation. He wondered if the PPP fully grasped the fact that Indigenous Peoples comprise nine (9) separate peoples.
He also questioned why the word Amerindian is being used by the PPP regime instead of Indigenous. In response, then Minister of Amerindian Affairs responded that Amerindians are free to call themselves whatever they want.
Statistics and other evidence
On December 6, 2022, Bert Wilkinson penned an article entitled, Serious allegations about racism in Guyana. The article was published by Caribbean Life.
The following are excerpts from the article:
According to the studies [by attorney Nigel Hughes] Guyanese of African descent who make up about 34 percent of the national native population of about 800,000 are being abjectly ignored and marginalised in the award of state contracts and other high earning projects.
Most of the billions being dished out to contractors, be it local or foreign, are being handed to Guyanese of Indian descent, foreign groups collaborating with Indo Guyanese or even Indo Trinidadian contractors. The study even highlights some cases where Afro Guyanese contractors have been given a sizable bite of the national pie in joint ventures with Indian counterparts.
“There is clear evidence of ethnic discrimination in the award of tenders in Guyana,” said one study, pointed to data it said it had obtained from the National Procurement and Tender Administration (NPTA).
“Companies owned or operated by Guyanese of Indian descent are awarded contracts at a rate far exceeding their representation in the broader demographic statistics of the country. Additionally, this pattern is even more evident when the dollar value of the contracts is considered,” the report stated.
For his Economy and Justice in Guyana study, Hughes said he had drawn serious and deliberate discrimination conclusions after examining contract awards in several areas. These include housing, road construction and construction of state buildings across the country.
“There is urgent and immediate need for redress including the cessation of future awards until a comprehensive plan to arrest this disproportionate and unfair allocation of state resources,” he said.
The studies contend that companies owned or operated by Guyanese of Indian descent “are awarded contracts at a rate far exceeding their representation in the broader demographic statistics of the country. Additionally, this pattern is even more evident when the dollar value of the contracts is considered.”
One of the reports noted that 56.9% of contracts awarded were to businesses owned or operated by Guyanese of Indian descent while 72.8% of the total dollar value of awards went to businesses owned or operated by Guyanese of Indian descent.
Additionally, 10.4% of contracts were given to entities owned or controlled by Guyanese of African descent. A mere 7.1% of the total dollar value of awards went to businesses owned or operated by Afro Guyanese, while contracts were awarded as much as five times more to contractors of Indian descent as their Afro colleagues.
Conclusion
It is evident that a serious problem of racism and racial discrimination exists. That problem must be addressed and solved if Guyana is to develop and become the economic powerhouse that it is capable of becoming.
Part 3 of this series will delve into the political Opposition’s position on the topic.
