Dear Editor,
I read a letter in the Stabroek News on November 25, 2025, that was written by one Dr. Walter H. Persaud and titled ‘Canadian High Commissioner’s comments urging Guyanese citizens to “speak up” crosses a diplomatic line’. Dr. Persaud’s letter was a response to the Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana, Sébastien Sigouin’s encouragement to Guyanese to actively engage with democratic processes in Guyana.[1] The High Commissioner’s statement followed the European Union Electoral Observation Mission (EU EOM) report, which highlighted some significant deficiencies in Guyana’s electoral system.
As I read Dr. Persaud’s letter, my initial reaction was that this letter was written from a position of privilege and a misunderstanding of the role of the Canadian High Commissioner and the international community in Guyana. As I read the Canadian High Commissioner’s comments and the EU Electoral Observation Mission (EU EOM) report, it was refreshing to see and begin to get a sense again of a more engaging and involved international community based on Guyanese current reality. The government was successfully able to neutralize much of the international/diplomatic community in Guyana from 2020 to 2025. Guyanese have had the privilege and honour of experiencing an active, involved and engaged international community in Guyana for decades, however, the period from 2020 to 2025 was different, very different. It would appear that Dr. Persaud had grown accustomed to a neutralized international community, so although the Canadian High Commissioner was simply doing what he is positioned in Guyana to do, the good doctor took umbrage.
May I remind Dr. Persaud, that the Canadian High Commissioner and members of the diplomatic and international community are a part of the international public sector and one of the core functions of the international community in Guyana is to promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all and establish international standards and address violations, which includes electoral rights and freedoms. One of the main purposes of the national public sector is to ensure that rights of citizens are upheld. With Guyana becoming a new oil and gas producing and exporting country, the government from 2020 has been struggling with finding balance with this new enormous power – money power, substantial international recognition, more regional power, etc. In this ‘new Guyana’, citizens have seen their rights being violated, as we have never seen in Guyana. It is the role and function of the international community to ensure that the checks and balances in democratic processes in Guyana are functional.
In 2019, I was studying jurisprudence and rule of law, and I read two academic articles which are relevant in this instance. One was titled ‘Dictators are Not Born as Dictators’, I cannot recall the name of the author. However, the article referenced the former President of Chile, Augusto Pinochet and the author explained how Pinochet had become a dictator, it made for very interesting reading. The other article while I cannot remember the title or name of the author, dealt with corruption and privilege and mentioned an example of a former President of an African country whose name had mysteriously been pulled as the winner of a bank raffle. When I read that article in 2019, I thought about the likelihood of a president of Guyana name being pulled as a winner in a bank raffle. Up to that time, I thought that it was very unlikely that a Guyanese president would have even participated in a bank raffle, moreso, for their name to be pulled as the winner. However, so much has changed in Guyana from 2020, that even though I still do not think that a president of Guyana in 2025, would participate in a bank raffle and be pulled as the winner, it is about privilege. While the president of that African country did not necessarily need to participate in the bank raffle and be the winner, it was about the acceptance in the society that a certain group is more privileged than other groups. The point was about a society where decisions and benefits of governance, business, growth and development revolved around a privileged few.
Over the past five years we have seen not only a neutralized international and diplomatic community in Guyana but a neutralized Guyana Bar Association, Guyana Association of Women Lawyers, Guyana Human Rights Commission, a misplaced Ethnic Relation Commission, a compliant cheerleading Private Sector Commission, a Guyana Elections Commission that is not independent or competent, a Guyana Police Force that is confused, among others; most people are just trying to pay their bills and or not disrupt the status quo. However, poverty reduction, growth and development are also about justice and fairness and rights being respected, norms, values and international standards and principles being adhered to. As the government experiments with its ‘new power’ as the government of an oil and gas producing country, the international/regional/diplomatic community, citizens, civil society, private sector has to also rise to meet this moment and play a greater role and speak up. Otherwise, we will not have an equitable and inclusive society, and the poor will become more powerless. Guyana will become more autocratic and dictatorial and instead of a country that is governed by the rule of law, we will have a country that has ‘rule by law’. We welcome the EU Electoral Observation Mission (EU EOM) report and the comments from the Canadian High Commissioner.