Dear Editor,
We the following eight Toshaos of the Upper Mazaruni are demanding an unqualified apology from Mr Peter Persaud, who in his letter that appeared in the Guyana Chronicle of November 9, 2010, calls us dishonest and liars for trying to protect our rights (‘Yvonne Pearson was quite in order’). We ask him, since when has such an act turned into dishonesty, and who is he to call us names and hold himself as a model of honesty and integrity? His letter speaks volumes about who he is since no person of integrity would write such a vile letter, accusing us of a political agenda, among other things, when there is no basis for such accusations. He had promised to return to our district with the revised draft of the LCDS paper before it was presented in Copenhagen, but never did so. Therefore who lied to us?
We would like the public to know that we were being hustled into signing a resolution at the National Toshaos Meeting that had just ended when our input was not even being considered, when we were not happy with its contents and when the agenda for that meeting was not even discussed with us. The so called resolution was rushed through with no time for input from anyone, yet this is the process that Peter Persaud is defending. He speaks about free, prior and informed consent but does he really understand what this means? For him to say that we, the Upper Mazaruni Toshaos, are operating towards our own political agenda and not towards that of our communities is totally out of order.
We would also like to ask the questions, should we be afraid to state our opinion in our efforts to protect our rights lest they be said to be political? Should we sign documents that we are uncomfortable with? Does Peter Persaud sign off on his birthright without questions?
We owe it to our people who have elected us to office to get more information on any issue or project, so that we can then take this back to them and be guided by their contributions. For Peter Persaud’s information, we choose to be guided by Section 34 (2) of the Amerindian Act, the very document that he is quoting, which cautions against Toshaos making decisions on their own. As Toshaos, we understand our roles and responsibilities to our people, and because we chose to consult with them he is questioning our motives.
But who does Peter Persaud represent? He is taken to meetings and given official status because he says the things that some would like the public to think comes from us but, he does not have our backing and he does not represent us. Who has the political motive in this instance? We ask the World Bank, Norway and others to take full note of this, especially at the big meeting in Mexico.
Article 147 of our national constitution provides for our freedom to associate. It means that we are free to associate with the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) or others with whom we choose. Just by chance, should we choose to associate with Peter Persaud, would our choice also be wrong?
Once again we demand an apology from Peter Persaud and urge that he stops speaking on our behalf.
Yours faithfully,
Mario Hastings
Claude Anselmo
Oswald Henry
Roger Roland
Charles Jerry
Devroy Thomas
John Andries
Norma Thomas
Toshaos of the Upper Mazaruni
