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.
????’? ??? ?????: 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.
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