In a Facebook post today, the Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana stated: “Democracy belongs to the Guyanese People. So, speak up, call on your elected representatives, National Assembly, and the Government to make the changes needed so that the electoral process is truly free and fair.” This statement was made in response to the recently published EU Observer Mission report, a group that, ironically, holds no relevance within the EU itself.
To the Canadian Ambassador, I would first like to urge my own leaders and government to ensure that I can experience the same robust democracy that Canadians enjoy. It’s interesting—just a week before the Guyana election (from August 26 to 30), I was in Vancouver, Canada. As you know, I was actively involved in the election campaign, sharing commentaries and letters to the editor. While in Vancouver, I discovered that I couldn’t post any political content on Facebook due to legal restrictions. While searching my phone for screenshots, I realized I no longer had them, so I contacted my relatives in Canada and asked them to try posting political content about Guyana and send me the screenshots.
𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙚’𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙮: one of the screenshots below shows that the political statement made by the Canadian Ambassador in Guyana was not viewable on Facebook in Canada. This is the “great democracy” in Canada. The remaining screenshots, taken in Canada, also show restrictions when attempting to post other political content.
So, I call on my leaders—the Government, President Ali, and Vice President Jagdeo—to foster the kind of Facebook democracy in Guyana that Canadians enjoy. After all, the Canadian Ambassador to Guyana’s own political posts on Facebook, which he could publish in Guyana, couldn’t be viewed back home in Canada.
𝗜𝗳 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗹, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝘆𝗽𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘆. 𝗨𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻, 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗚𝘂𝘆𝗮𝗻𝗮 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀.