Government will craft policy and programmes to address racial tension says President Ali

Addressing the issue of racial tension in Guyana requires a collective approach and cannot be dealt with single-handedly by the government. This is the view expressed by President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali.

The President said that while a collective approach is needed, he acknowledged that it is the responsibility of the government to create the environment for the issue of racial tension to be addressed.

“The government has a responsibility for charting policies and programmes that reflect the needs and aspirations of all the people of our country… we have to ensure that our public policy and programmes are designed for all the people of our country and that is a  great responsibility of the government and that is what you will see reflected in the way we craft our policy,” he underscored.

The Head of State pointed out that persons on social media need to be responsible in what they post. He noted that in the last 24 hours, he has received over 1,000 post from persons on Facebook posting things that are not only damaging and insensitive, but also border on criminality.

According to the President, those are issues that need to be addressed frontally, adding that strong actions need to be taken for the hateful post and speeches that are being pursued on social media. Dr. Ali also highlighted that addressing the issue of race requires maturity from every stakeholder.

“We will address the issue through our policies and programmes. We intend to put into place a youth advisory council and a major component of the terms and reference of the youth advisory council is to work on race relations. To create a new culture, a new environment, a new sense of purpose to go out there in at-risk communities and to develop a framework of actions that the government can pursue to help at risk communities,” the President underscored.