Opposition Leader Joe Harmon joined a small picketing exercise this morning outside the Ministry of Culture to protest recent statements made by the Culture Minister about role models in the black community in Guyana.

The Opposition Leader who is currently in a race for the leadership of the People’s National Congress said like many other Guyanese, he has taken umbrage at the statements made by the Culture Minister. 

He said the statement which called for black kids to have more black role models, was meant to gaslight race issues in Guyana.

“The statements that he made are disrespectful to all Guyanese, all African Guyanese and more so the African Guyanese who have done well in life when he can say that there are no role models and this is a PPP mindset and as I have said before, this exposes the true nature of the PPP that they don’t have respect for any other race…the true nature of the PPP is reflected in Ramson’s statements”, Harmon said.

The Minister of Culture made the initial statement on Friday afternoon during a programme on 94.1FM. He later posted a video recording of the interview to his Facebook page with the caption “things that need to be said”.

Ramson came in for widespread condemnation over his statements and in an effort to backtrack from the statements three days after he made them, he issued a video message on his Facebook page, talking about the Afro-Guyanese that are his role models and saying that there are lots of role models in the Afro Guyanese community.

APNU+AFC Member of Parliament Roysdale Forde and other protesters today dismissed Ramson’s attempt to clarify the statement.

In response to today’s protest outside his office, the Minister of Culture posted a photograph from his office window with the protesters, counting their numbers and declaring that he was moving on.

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