HGP Nightly News – Minister of Labour and Manpower Planning Keoma Griffith says Guyana’s economic progress must be measured not only by growth, but by whether people from every ethnic background are getting a fair chance to benefit.
Speaking during a panel discussion at the Ethnic Relations Commission’s National Symposium, Griffith said the government has created more than 104,000 jobs in recent years and trained over 16,000 people to help them access employment opportunities.
He said those opportunities have reached citizens from diverse backgrounds.
“These are persons from diverse backgrounds, and they have all been able to take advantage of opportunities irrespective of their race,” Griffith said. “Talent has no ethnicity, and excellence has no race. This is a government that will continue to promote equal opportunity in Guyana.”
From a labour perspective, he said, equal access to jobs and training is one of the clearest ways to strengthen national unity.
Griffith said the state has a responsibility to help build a more cohesive society by removing discrimination and breaking down barriers that prevent people from moving forward.
“It is the duty of the state to enhance the cohesion of society by eliminating discrimination,” he said. “As a government, every day we strive to remove discriminatory barriers.”
But he also made it clear that unity is not government’s job alone.
According to Griffith, every citizen has a role to play in rejecting misinformation, stereotypes, and attempts to use race for political gain.
He urged Guyanese to push back against divisive rhetoric and support the idea that every citizen, regardless of ethnicity, has a place and a future in Guyana.
