APNU+AFC Parliamen-tarian Amanza Walton-Desir has filed a criminal complaint against businessman Roshan Khan after he called on Indo-Guyanese to “mark” and “target” her.
“Indo-Guyanese need to picket Parliament and her home and everywhere she is or goes. We must target her with sleeplessness,” Khan said in a post on his Facebook page.
In another post Khan writes that “this sane (sic) woman Amaza must be exposed and marker, yes marked people of Guyana…she must be known, never forget her face.” The same post referred to leader of the Alliance for Change Khemraj Ramjattan as a “traitor”.
Following the publication of the post the parliamentarian made a complaint to the Brickdam police station on Monday evening and was asked to appear at the criminal investigation division yesterday.
“It is irresponsible to say the least for someone who was a sitting member of the Ethnic Relations Commis-sion to call for me to be marked; to call for my home to be picketed…I have children,” she told the media after providing a statement and various pieces of evidence to the cyber-crime unit of the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
Her party later released a statement in which they called on government to condemn in the strongest terms such postings since these posts can incite and encourage hatred in our already fragile and race sensitive society.
Khan was encouraged to denounce and condemn the post made in his name.
In response, the former member of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) posted that Walton-Desir needs a “re-education.”
“Using one word ‘mark’ meant for people to be are of what she said and to remember and mark this moment in time…it is sad to see the desperatism (sic) they are trying to displace the flack she is facing,” he wrote.
Stabroek News attempted to reach Khan for comment but up to press time his mobile number was unanswered.
Khan is no stranger to such controversy as he was accused of inciting violence through his facebook posting during the unrest which followed the murder of Joel and Isiah Henry. At the time the ERC distanced itself from his comments while he stressed that his Facebook page represented his own personal views.
Calls by the Alliance for Change and the leader of the Opposition Joseph Harmon for his removal from the Commission went unheeded.
Over the last week the parliamentarian has been the subject of social media attacks following statements she made on talk show ‘Politics 101’ with Dr David Hinds.
During the show which is aired on KAMSTV, Walton-Desir described supporters of the PPP/C as “mentally lazy.”
“Unfortunately that side of the political divide, the PPP/C have a base who prefer if they say this is going to happen – that these men are going to come and rape your daughters and kill your children they believe that because the burden of sorting things out for themselves is too great…we have a bunch of mentally lazy people,” she argued while positing that the supporters of the PNCR are far more inquisitive and inquiring with a greater appreciation of the democratic process.
The parliamentarian’s comments were pounced on by the PPP/C with the party’s official Facebook page reposting a clip from the show with the caption “APNU+AFC Member of Parliament Amanza Walton-Desir says Indo-Guyanese are mentally lazy people.”
Additionally the Indian Action Committee (IAC) says it has lodged a complaint with the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) over the remarks.
In a statement on Saturday, the IAC said having listened to the comments it is of the firm view that, in the context of the country’s politics, there is no ambiguity that they were directed at Indo-Guyanese.
Meanwhile, Walton-Desir has accused the governing PPP/C, their supporters and various “surrogates” of deliberating misinterpreting her comments in an attempt to malign her character.
Yesterday, she stressed that her comments were misinterpreted since she at no time mentioned an ethnicity.
According to the Parliamentarian the fabricated furor around her comments is distracting from issues of national concern including the fact that in 2021 Guyana is still without reliable electricity.
She went on to note that the PPP/C by “deliberately misrepresenting her statement are hoping to incite indo-Guyanese against her, a black woman lamenting that by doing so they further mire Guyana in the type of unrest that has stymied its development.
