The Government and the Opposition are once again exchanging words over discrimination in Guyana, with Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo accusing the APNU of using racial discrimination to drum up support and divide the country. 

During a press conference on Thursday, Mr. Jagdeo said while he does not doubt that discrimination exists in Guyana, it is not institutionalized as the Opposition has alleged.

He claimed that not a single case of discrimination against the Government has been filed with the Ethnic Relations Commission, (ERRC).

“If there was such a big set of discrimination in this country, you can use the two mechanisms that are there to address the ERC or the Courts and I would urge them to do that but they are not interested in finding real cases of discrimination where they exist and I am not saying they do not exist, I am saying it is not institutionalized because the PPP/C has ensured that we work to ensure that all of our institutions serve all of our people,” Mr. Jagdeo said.

Mr. Jagdeo also described the parties that make up the APNU as race-based parties.

He said those parties are bent on creating division in Guyana.

But in a statement today, the APNU rejected the accusations made by the Vice President and said it has repeatedly advocated that instead of the two main political parties persisting in only blaming each other on this issue, it would be more beneficial to the country for concrete proposals to be implemented on reversing the slide into political dictatorship and on combating discrimination.

“On the issue of political dictatorship, we call again on the PPP to halt its perilous push towards this objective. As we have pointed out before, this obsession compels and fosters discrimination, marginalization, and victimization against those persons, groups, communities, and institutions that the PPP considers as threats or obstacles to its political ambitions. This PPP mindset also explains why it increasingly ignores the rule of law and the call for political inclusion and cooperation,” the Opposition noted.

To address the issue of discrimination the Opposition said the Government should implement an Ethnic Impact Assessments as a requirement for every major government programme or policy.

The APNU said such assessments would identify and mitigate/eliminate problems that may unduly create or exacerbate racial and other inequalities.

Additionally, the Opposition party believes the revamp of the Fiscal Transfer Act to provide for the formulation and implementation of objective criteria for the purpose of the allocation of resources to local democratic organs would need to be addressed.

The Opposition has repeatedly accused the Government of discriminatory practices in a number of its policies and in the hiring of contractors for Government work.

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