–in Georgetown
-by Celestine Chacon
The BBC World Service hosted its public debate programme World Questions last evening at the Pegasus Corporate Centre and Suite.
Chaired by veteran journalist Jonny Dymond, the panel included Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh; Opposition Member of Parliament, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley; and activist and businesswoman Ayodele Dalgety-Dean, Founder and Managing Director of Blossom Inc.
The panel debated a number of issues which ranged from Guyana’s oil-driven economic growth, distribution of wealth, cost-of-living and job creation.
Following the session, members of the audience shared their feedback.
According to Nikhil Sankar, the discussions were extremely insightful. He told NCN News, “What I thought was important was we drew the distinction between rhetoric and reality. overall I think every single questions was answered fairly I think all the fluff, the sophistry , the sort of rhetoric often intended to paint a negative picture of Guyana was adequately dispensed.”
Leon Wordsworth shared similar views, adding that the forum provided the opportunity to highlight the massive development unfolding in Guyana.
“The discussion was okay if we had more time we could have gone more into how much development has happened, in terms of transparency… all in all it was good but I would encourage them to do next time around is that they should take these discussions more into the country,” he said.
Ceanna Persaud, who travelled from Bartica, said, “Coming to this evening’s forum, it gave me an opportunity to see what we’re doing and if we’re doing it right. It give us an opportunity to listen each other which was one of the panelist questions coming out talking about what the racial divide is.”
The BBC World Service’s ‘World Questions -Guyana’ will be first broadcast on the BBC World Service in English on Saturday, March 14.
The programme will also be available online, on BBC Sounds, and on most major podcast platforms.