Leader of the Opposition and former President Bharrat Jagdeo

“Coolie Bully” racist slur

 …demands Nagamootoo resigns

 “Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo cannot excuse himself – he insulted not only the Leader of the Opposition, he insulted all Guyanese East Indians and East Indians everywhere. Calling former President Bharrat Jagdeo a “coolie bully” is not only derogatory to Jagdeo, but is deeply injurious to all East Indians and is a fatal blow to the efforts of many to promote unity of Guyanese people.” This is according to former Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy in the wake of the comment made by the Prime Minister on Friday during the Budget debate.

He said even as the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) continued to “self-righteously proclaim that they want a unified nation and they are willing to work for unity, Moses Nagamootoo exposes the racist slant of APNU/AFC. In case anyone thinks I am going overboard and I am being too sensitive, imagine someone from the PPP/C calling any of the prominent African Guyanese leaders in APNU/AFC a “****** bully”. There will be such an outrage and vigorous calls for him or her to be charged for racist remarks. The call for that person’s resignation from Parliament would blare on all TV stations and radio stations and would occupy the headlines of all our newspapers.”

Former Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy

Incidentally, the Guyana Human Right Association is quiet, Dr Ramsammy added. “Transparency International is in a fog and is on a hiatus from Guyana’s politics. Commentators like Christopher Ram and others are selectively deaf and dumb. The diplomats of ABC countries will argue this is a personal matter and they have no right to interfere in a sovereign country’s national politics.”

The truth is if there is any decency in this Administration, the former Health Minister said, Nagamootoo will be asked to resign. “This does not stop me from demanding that Nagamootoo resigns his position in Parliament,” he continued.

“To make this outrage even more preposterous is that he used the floor of the Parliament to insult the majority ethnic group of our country. For those East Indians who voted for APNU/AFC, they must register their disgust and let Nagamootoo know that he cannot get away with this racist vulgarity.”

Dr Ramsammy said the matter was even more troubling because Nagamootoo on the campaign trail in New York shortly before the 2015 elections denied he was a Guyanese East Indian. He insisted that he was a Guyanese, even as people like “David Granger and others at the same meeting refused to similarly deny their African origins and insist they too are simply Guyanese”. The former Minister alleged that “they are saying that Guyana has no place for East Indians. Their position is that East Indians must reject their East Indian identification if they want to fit into the fabric of a Guyanese society. African Guyanese do not have the same obligation”. Dr Ramsammy named Nagamootoo as the chief architect of this “heinous proposition”.

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo

Proud of culture

He said he immediately rejected that “terrible” suggestion then and remained resolute that as a proud East Indian he was as Guyanese as Nagamootoo or any APNU/AFC member. He added that he proudly served his country as a Guyanese citizen, but was never ashamed nor felt any need to cast his culture and ethnicity aside. “As strong as I feel and as proud as I am as an East Indian, I have always been 100 per cent Guyanese. I was a part of the PPP/C and I remain part of the PPP/C and one of the reasons is that Cheddi Jagan and the PPP always remained resolute in that no one had to cast aside his or her ethnicity and culture in order to be a 100% Guyanese.”

Dr Ramsammy called on former Attorney General Anil Nandlall and other lawyers to immediately institute charges against Nagamootoo for racism and for him to be debarred from Parliament.

He added that the Speaker of the National Assembly failed to implement the laws that prevent any MP from using racist language in our Parliament. “Now the PPP/C must call on the Speaker to take action against Mr Nagamootoo and Mr Nagamootoo must be taken before the Committee of Privileges for abusing the privileges that Parliament bestow on him. He has brought disrepute to the hallowed halls of our Parliament.”

Dr Ramsammy stressed that the “odious” behaviour of Nagamootoo in Parliament cannot be allowed to slide, particularly in the circumstances that exist in Guyana today. He charged that APNU/AFC has selectively fired large numbers of persons because they are associated with the PPP/C and most of them are East Indians.”

The charges of ethnic cleansing against this Administration have been loud and the evidence against this Administration for being unfair towards East Indians is compelling,” he added.

He said the comment demonstrates “the underlying ethnic tension that presently exists in Guyana”. “He demonstrated that APNU/AFC does not care what East Indians think. Guyana is their kingdom and they will do whatever they want,” Dr Ramsammy alleged.

He said the coalition railroaded its way into Parliament, sought to restrict debate on the 2015 budget and has broken all established norms in the running of Government.

The former Minister said Governance Minister Raphael Trotman emphatically admitted that “they now have their hands on the “kingdom”. In saying that the PPP/C needs to reconcile themselves with the fact that the “kingdom” is no longer in the PPP’s hands, he exposed how APNU/AFC sees Guyana and their role as government. It is a fiefdom and they will rule this fiefdom as they see fit”.

“But the PPP never saw our role in Government as being emperors and we never saw Guyana as our “kingdom”. We never thought that Guyana was a fiefdom for anyone. We saw Guyana as a nation made up of people of different ethnicities and culture, different religion and different political persuasion. We tried to govern a country where all citizens can see themselves as equal.

Clearly this Government is portraying itself by words and deeds that they govern Guyana differently. We may all be Guyanese citizens, but we are not all equal under APNU/AFC. The lead person for APNU/AFC in Parliament has again affirmed this position…. More than 200,000 Guyanese voters cry shame on Nagamootoo,” Dr Ramsammy concluded.