|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
An immediate multipartisan approach led by the Government of Guyana is needed to address the Guyana-Venezuela border issue and to sensitize the nation to the pride of nationhood, defense, and Guyana’s agenda towards combating issues with regard to the Venezuelan Referendum due in December 2023.
‘Conversation with Rickford Burke’, an online program, recently discussed the ‘Guyana-Venezuela Border Controversy and Guyana’s National Security’, with guests A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Central Executive Committee Member, International Relations Expert Ret’d Rear Admiral Dr.Gary Best, and Opposition Parliamentarian, Alliance for Change (AFC) Chairman Catherine “Cathy” Hughes, both calling on the Government of Guyana to put the national interest first.
Host of the program, Caribbean Guyana Institute on Democracy President Rickford Burke questioned how the Peoples Progressive Party government (PPP) intends to defend Guyana when the government spokesperson Bharrat Jagdeo has spent most of his time dividing the country, attacking African Guyanese leaders with unjust charges and relentless persecution, there is no public awareness campaign on the Guyana-Venezuela border issue anywhere in Guyana, and how they will bring together a majority African Guyanese Guyana Defense Force and the people of Guyana when Venezuela is already leaps ahead.
Dr. Best said we have to be above the fray as an opposition and putting Guyana first means we can’t not support any and all national efforts to prevent Venezuela from occupying Guyana” Dr. Best said, “At the end of the day when the Opposition gets back into government we still need to have a country so we need to keep the country safe by any means necessary.”
The international relations expert explained that “Putting national interest before that of party interest will bring solidarity to the nation to bring Guyana Back on track.” Dr. Best said if the government does that it will foster “confidence in the population and governance as well as create a shield and a ‘bulwark’, a defensive wall against what Venezuela’s President Maduro is attempting to do on the 3rd December 2023.” Dr. Best said the government has a lot to do at the national level. Guyanese need to see Ministers, leaders, and officials from every sector in communities and villages nationwide “We need to see ministers speaking about this border issue in Essequibo and at Punta Plya to plant the flag there.” Punta Playa is the commencement point for Guyana’s maritime boundary.
Meanwhile, AFC’s Cathy Hughes said, “We need to see the government acting differently so that it engenders a spirit of nationalism because right now we are a very divided people every day in every sector; it cuts straight down the line of race.”
Hughes, however, impressed upon the discussion that “our faith in all religions is strong, and I mean all religions in Guyana.” As she explained, “We have to take the higher road, we have to set the example, and it is up to the PPP to find the maturity, the sense of fairness and honesty, the sense of being humble, the principles that we do not see in them (PPP) that is the basis of Hinduism, all religions, and any kind of Christian faith.” The Opposition parliamentarian added that “we (the opposition APNU/AFC) will be the bigger person; we can’t do it for them, but we will stand strong and united for Guyana and its territory, and it’s a burden they (PPP) will carry and be judged on eventually if they do not do the same if they are not committed to that One People, One Nation, One Destiny,” Guyana’s Motto, the AFC Parliamentarian said.
