GEORGETOWN, Guyana– The opposition Alliance For Change (AFC) has accused the Guyana government of reducing the number of funds to the locally established International Decade for People of African Descent- Guyana (IDPADA-G).
“The AFC views this kind of politics as wholly anti-national, and its consequences will create only deeper fissures within our ethnic communities which manage by and large,” the AFC said in a statement.
“This discriminatory action of denial of funding to IDPADA-G will not build national cohesion nor a One Guyana,” said the AFC, which was part of the coalition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) government that was defeated in the controversial 2020 general election.
The Irfaan Ali government has embarked on a campaign of One Guyana that seeks to emphasize no discrimination and a collectively developing of the oil-rich Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country. Still, opposition critics have said in reality, some of its decisions are partisan and seek to shut out the opposition.
IDPADA-G Chairman Vincent Alexander said since Septem, er; the government has drastically reduced its funding to approximately GUY$694,000 (One Guyana dollar=US$0.004 cents) from an estimated GUY$8.3 million.
“The entire operation is affected. What survives depends on fundraising and volunteerism. The credit union is relatively autonomous and can survive initially on volunteerism,” he told the online publication Demerara Waves Online News.
Alexander said that the government had not provided any explanation for its decision.
In its statement, the AFC said the opposition would likely be asking the government several questions in the National Assembly about the allocation of cash to the IDPADA-G that the then APNU coalition administration had established.
“After more speaking to them, we certainly will not leave out the option of carrying the matter to Parliament with a motion of some sort or major questions the ministers,” AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan said.
AFC chairman, Cathy Hughes, said the party has collected “quite a bit of information” from the organization providing evening classes in places like Sophia, Greater Georgetown.
Earlier this year, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo claimed that that entity was creaming off funds for its benefit but has provided no hard evidence.
At the request of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, the audited financial records of IDPADA-G have been submitted, but so far, the government has not made any claim of corruption.
The AFC praised IDPADA-G for managing the funds with “complete transparency and accountability of its subvention, and stellar operational integrity.”
It said that the decision by the Indo-Guyanese-led People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) administration to reduce the allocation to IDPADA-G is part of a plot to occupy almost all of the country’s political space.
“The AFC fears that the consequences may be even more horrific if, as is being sensed on the ground, an interpretation is given that this is a form of terrorism unleashed by those who claim to love Guyana more than all others but whose ethnic politics has only the aim of monopolizing power.”
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