Guyanese youth wants peace, harmony amidst post-election deadlock/violence
Amidst violent protests, attacks on law enforcement officers and children, clear racial tensions, politicians fighting for power and the inability of those responsible for tabulating vote numbers clearly having challenges; a group of young people with diverse ethnic backgrounds are seeking to appeal for peace, calm and good sense to prevail.
On Saturday afternoon, the young people who numbered just about thirty met on the foreshore behind the Marriott Hotel where they prayed for Guyana and compiled short video messages calling for peace and unity among their peers and politicians.
21-year-old Isaiah Kumar-Akloo was the brain of the initiative. He said that he was scrolling social media when he saw what was happening to children, police ranks and infrastructure across the country by protesters and thought he needed to act.
“Today we have a group of young people who came together to actually destroy the spirit of racism and division over Guyana,” he told BIG Smith News Watch.
He said that there are too many negatives taking place on social media and they are also being encouraged by persons who should be calling for peace, stability, and calm.
“If we fight against each other, the word of God said that a Kingdom or a nation which is divided will never stand and if Guyana is Divided we will never go to the place where God wants this country to be” Kumar- Akloo further reminded.
He said that the young people who came to support his initiative are his brothers, his friends and friends of friends who messaged each other about the plan and they all decided to take part.
“With regards to the elimination of racism in Guyana, it is something that we would like to take across the country with the aim of educating individuals in the way we can eradicate this scourge and letting them know how it affects our country, economy and our people” Dennis Adonis who is part of the group related to BIG Smith News Watch.
Some of the young people holding hands in prayers
Local singer Shawn English was also part of the grouping on Saturday. His message was very clear.
“I came out here to support this growing youth network of young people who love Guyana and want to see change, change in the atmosphere, change in how people see Guyana, not only here but overseas. We want to have Guyana to be represented in the way it should be properly represented and as young people, we feel as our voice have an impact and we want to make it heard” English passionately noted on Saturday.
Christopher Haywood said that Kumar-Akloo is his friend and when he was told of the initiative to call for peace and calm, he quickly embraced it and responded.
“When I heard about it I know I had to be involved because the events of the last two days in terms of the whole racial tension and everything have really affected me personally because I also am a Guyanese and I have many friends of various ethnicities and to see the two races fighting and going at each other really affected me personally,” Christopher Haywood told BIG Smith News Watch.
As the tension continues between supporters and leaders of the two main political parties, the Courts will later today rule on if it has jurisdiction over Gecom. If the court finds that it does, the possibility exists that Gecom may return to the verification of the results of Region 4 before declaring a winner in the elections.
