I was horrified by what I heard from a sitting Member of Parliament, in reference to his fellow opposition Members of Parliament, some of whom are former government ministers. This, not-so-subtle reference to opposition MPs and former government ministers was, for some reason missed by the Speaker. That there was no rebuke, from the Speaker or any other MP suggests that our parliamentary standards have changed for the worse. MP Shuman – in his presentation made the point that citizens “look up” to parliamentarians. If this, therefore, is his standard for the citizenry, we are obviously in trouble.
Mr. Shuman accused the APNU+AFC government, specifically its four Indigenous ministers, of failing to take the Upper Mazaruni land case to the cabinet. This case has, for the past twenty-three years been engaging the High Court. It has not yet been determined. In 2015 Vice President Sydney Allicock offered to open a conversation on the matter of land titling with the Upper Mazaruni District Council. The leaders, as is their right, made it clear that they prefer to await the determination of their court application.
Mr. Shuman, in his address to the National Assembly of the Parliament of Guyana, openly declared a striking lack of knowledge of a very important Indigenous Rights issue. Further, he was critical of the Granger Administration for not allowing the Executive, at the level of Cabinet, to interfere with the work of the Judiciary! At minimum, one expects a Parliamentarian to understand and respect the doctrine of the separation of powers.
We have a large database of Guyanese worldwide. Most of our readers are in the USA, Canada, and the UK. Our Blog and Newsletter would not only carry articles and videos on Guyana, but also other articles on a wide range of subjects that may be of interest to our readers in over 200 countries, many of them non-Guyanese We hope that you like our selections.
It is estimated that over one million Guyanese, when counting their dependents, live outside of Guyana. This exceeds the population of Guyana, which is now about 750,000. Many left early in the 50’s and 60’s while others went with the next wave in the 70’s and 80’s. The latest wave left over the last 20 years. This outflow of Guyanese, therefore, covers some three generations. This outflow still continues today, where over 80 % of U.G. graduates now leave after graduating. We hope this changes, and soon.
Guyanese, like most others, try to keep their culture and pass it on to their children and grandchildren. The problem has been that many Guyanese have not looked back, or if they did it was only fleetingly. This means that the younger generations and those who left at an early age know very little about Guyana since many have not visited the country. Also, if they do get information about Guyana, it is usually negative and thus the cycle of non-interest is cultivated.
This Guyana Diaspora Online Forum , along with its monthly newsletter, aims at bringing Guyanese together to support positive news, increase travel and tourism in Guyana and, in general, foster the birth of a new Guyana, which has already begun notwithstanding the negative news that grabs the headlines. As the editor and manager of the publication, I am committed to delivering Blog entries and Newsletters that are politically balanced, and focused on the positive ideas we wish to share and foster among Guyanese.
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