Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix has rejected as “completely false” a report that some Haitian and African migrants, during an August 28th meeting, were promised citizenship for their votes.
“I would not get involved in any disdainful act as suggested by MTV News Update to secure votes for the APNU+AFC coalition in exchange for citizenship for any foreign national residing in this country,” Felix said at a press conference called to address the claims yesterday.
Aubrey Heath-Retemyer, the Deputy Director of the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA), whose presence at the August 28th meeting has been questioned, held a separate press conference yesterday and again rejected the claims. He had previously said and restated again yesterday that he had attended the meeting in his private capacity.
The two offered their versions of the meeting though they differed on some details.
Felix noted that recently, MTV News Update broadcasted a report alleging that during a meeting, African migrants were promised assistance with citizenship status; were advised that they should register and vote for the APNU+AFC; foreign students were promised that their tuitions would be paid if they voted for the present government in the coming elections; and that some foreigners confirmed that they had received citizenship. Felix also said that it was reported that a man involved in an alleged fake marriage was promised to have an investigation into his matter discontinued by the police. None of these allegations, Felix said, are true.
In recounting the events, the minister said that he responded to a request from Heath-Retemyer who indicated that there were some African nationals in Guyana who had expressed concerns regarding the services provided by the Department of Citizenship and wanted redress. He said that a meeting was arranged to listen to the concerns. The meeting was held on August 28th at the Critchlow Labour College at 8 pm, the minister said.
Felix said the issues raised at the meeting included the lengthy period to finalise applications for citizenship, long delays to resolve applications for citizenship by marriage, the police’s retention of an application by a man married to a Guyanese, the possibility of an extension of stay by a student experiencing issues with tuition, and questions concerning employment visas being sought. Felix also said that some migrants indicated that they did not like the way the staff at the Department of Citizenship had treated them.
He told reporters that the student was openly informed that her issue was separate and could not be dealt with, while the other matters were deferred.
He said that on August 29th, at 14:30hrs, the meeting was resumed in the Department of Citizenship, at which time, four persons with issues related to marriage had their matters deferred for subsequent consideration; it was revealed that another four were at the Immigration Office, and it was revealed that consideration of applications for citizenship by marriage and residency by about three persons had already been completed
Meanwhile, the applications for employment visas were not dealt with because the persons involved did not have the status deserving of consideration, Felix said.
Felix decried the statements by MTV as “completely false and libelous” and said, “my attorneys will take whatever action is appropriate in this matter.” While he did not confirm that legal action against the news entity is imminent, he did say that he is interested in taking legal action against the news outlet. “You can’t have people lying on you and you are doing nothing,” Felix said, lamenting that no reporter called or spoke to him ahead of the broadcast to verify the information eventually published.
Power off
Meantime, the minister also acknowledged that attendees at the meeting were asked to power off their cellphones, but said that the directive did not come from him. Heath-Retemyer had earlier said that the directive was given in an effort to prevent any attempt to mischaracterise what took place.
At his press conference, Heath-Retemyer, noting his interest in African and Haitian affairs, said that he currently works with a Pan-African Group here comprising of persons from Haiti and Africa. He told media operatives that the Pan-African Development Foundation had written a letter to Felix informing him that the migrants were experiencing several issues, and invited him to meet with them to ventilate several issues.
According to Heath-Retemyer, the meeting took place on August 29th. He also differed from Felix regarding the invitation to the meeting.
In a September 4th release signed and distributed by SARA’s Communications officer, a subsequent interview with Stabroek News, and again yesterday, Heath-Retemyer said that he became aware of the letter inviting the minister to a meeting because he works with the group.
However, Felix yesterday told media operatives “I responded to a request by Mr Retemyer who represented a case that there are some African nationals in Guyana who had expressed concerns on the services provided by the Department of Citizenship, and wanted redress…he (Heath-Retemyer) called me,” Felix said.
In light of Heath-Retemyer’s iteration earlier in the day that he did not personally engage the minister to invite him, or on the matter at all, Felix was asked to confirm that it was indeed Heath-Retemyer who invited him to the meeting, to which he said “yes.”
Meantime, Heath-Retemyer pointed out that MTV was nowhere in sight at the meeting, and proceeded to broadcast the report “without interviewing any of us” and without verifying any of the complaints made by the migrants.
