Opposition Member of Parliament, Sherod Duncan is urging the government to “come clean” about a registration excercise he says its being conducted at the Ministry of Health compound on Brickdam.
“I observed several hundred foreign nationals, predominantly Spanish-speaking, assembled across the premises. Two large tents were erected to handle the crowd, passports were actively being presented and logged, and there was a noticeable absence of visible, authorized Guyanese officials directing the process,” the MP said.
He noted that “in the vacuum created by official silence”, “contradictory explanations have emerged”.
The politician said that while some have indicated that the event is a registration process for foreign healthcare workers, other reports indicate an expedited enrollment exercise for national identification and Electronic ID (E-ID) cards.
“The Guyanese people cannot be left to rely on street rumor to understand state operations occurring on public property. This administration continues to govern immigration policy through administrative discretion, silence, and ad-hoc arrangements rather than institutional transparency.
We witnessed this identical pattern of secrecy just days ago regarding the government’s one-year migration framework with the United States to accept third-country deportees,” the MP said.
He added that while the executive branch belatedly acknowledged the arrival of six individuals, two Afghans and four Cubans, it withheld the actual framework document from the National Assembly, keeping the public entirely in the dark regarding overall relocation caps, independent screening protocols, and legal status.
Duncan said that his intervention on this issue is “grounded firmly in institutional governance, not hostility toward foreign nationals”.
“As Guyanese, we understand what it means to migrate and seek opportunity abroad, and our society has always extended basic decency to those from other nations. However, welcoming foreign nationals must occur within a structured, lawful, and coherent statutory framework. When hundreds of people are assembled without prior public notice, without clear ministerial explanation, and under questionable administrative procedures, it directly compromises public confidence, undermines the rule of law, and leaves migrants themselves exposed to institutional disorder”.
Duncan is calling on the Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, the Minister of Home Affairs, Oneidge Walrond, and the executive leadership “to break their silence and provide an immediate, comprehensive accounting of the exercise conducted at Brickdam”.
“The administration must publicly state the exact legal authority under which this exercise was conducted, identify the agencies responsible, clarify what documentation was issued, and finally lay all bilateral migration agreements before the National Assembly. The governance of Guyana’s borders, public health apparatus, and national identity records cannot be executed in the shadows,” the MP noted.
