Today I note the struggle of African labour. The three-month-old Irfaan Ali government seems bent on pursuing the politics of victimisation, recrimination, and discrimination. Who have not yet been fired, transferred or superseded having been employed, confirmed or promoted under the previous administration have all reason to believe it is only a matter of time for them.
Many have been placed on the breadline not due to incompetence and inability to perform in other jobs; they have not only been replaced with the government’s choice, but the government has also sought to expand the public sector and create opportunities for new jobs, as the terminated are left out in the cold. Some are being terminated on accusations that seek to tarnish their reputation not ensure justice and respect for the Rule of Law. The politics of recrimination also saw persons’ salaries made public to give the impression they were earning above their skills and the global competitive nature of the job. These practices violate the right of some to work and their protection from discrimination based on race, political association, etc.
As the government pursues its divisive, counterproductive and anti-development policies and programmes they care not about the Constitution and basic rights for some section of the society. They use their passion two-folds. On one hand to destroy some and on the other to protect some. For instance the same passion they are applying to protect jobs in sugar, they should have used to retain those they terminated. The same passion government applies to sugar government could apply to securing employment for workers of the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI). Whereas BCGI may need start up support from the government, bauxite would be no drain to the Treasury because it is competitive in the international market and can stand on its own two feet. The socioeconomic wellbeing of every group in the society is of equal import.
I notice the hounding of African workers of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) not to pursue and achieve electoral justice but to try and find them guilty in the court of public opinion even as the culpable walk free. I recall the 2006 Election, the Chief Elections Officer, Goocool Boodhoo, conscious that the computation in Region 10 gave the Alliance for Change (AFC) a seat, yet he announced that seat (and votes) in the favour of the PPP/C. When he was challenged he said let the AFC go to the Election Petition. In 2020 many have convenient memories.
Some would like us to forget Boodhoo and the silence of the Police on what transpired in that 2006 Election. Today they call for the scalps of Keith Lowenfield, Roxanne Myers, Clairmont Mingo and others. This time around they do not want the court to do its work, they want the case to be tried in the court of public opinion where these persons have already been damned and found guilty. Law and order is a convenient clutch for some. We must demonstrate our resilience in standing as one against bullyism and forces of injustices. Injustice meted out to any Guyanese poses a threat to justice for every Guyanese.
Whether it was slave labour, miserly pay during the period of amelioration, or today African labour have contributed significantly in building this country, from its foundation and up. Such labour has gravitated to the public sector, health, education and disciplined services. African labour has shouldered the burden of the nation’s economy via sweat equity, PAYE and consumptive patterns.
And whereas some call for ethnic balance in the sectors Africans gravitate to they rebuff the counter call for ethnic balance in the private sector. Clearly, they are determined to push Africans out of traditional jobs as they actively pursue efforts to deny us entering others. Having been subjected to the African holocaust (MAAFA) those who advcoate and act on ecominic/employment marginalisation are preaching and practicing economic genocide in the 21st century. They continue to propagate and implement policies and programmes in the decade prescribed by the United Nations to address the “need to strengthen national, regional and international cooperation in relation to the full enjoyment of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights by people of African descent, and their full and equal participation in all aspects of society.”
There is this new sector oil and gas. Africans must benefit not only as employers but also business owners. We must demand that the Local Content Policy sees a place for us. There must also be equal economic treatment in the villages such as access roads from farm to market where our farmers can meaningfully participate in the national economy. We must stand and fight for economic, political, social and cultural inclusion, singularly and collectively, preferably the latter, for in unity there is strength.
Those who are saying to us that we should not fight, we should not protest and demand what is justly ours are enemies to the cause. They are part of the problem in the black community and we must see it as such, regardless of who they are, within or without. So, we have to fight to protect that which we have gained and to advance further. That is resilience.
Those who are asking us to pray, but fail to recognise prayer without work is meaningless and hinders the struggle for progress, for equality, for justice, must be told the truth. If you can’t stand with your brothers and sisters to ensure their God given rights, please sit and be quiet. For we are not as a people free until every black man is free, until there are equal opportunities, justice and respect, the right to economic self-determination and the exploitation of the motherland ceases.
We know some are tired, but this is why we have to train our young people to carry on. The struggle must continue from generation to generation. This is a struggle we can fight. This is a struggle worthy of fighting. This is a struggle we can win. May God continue to bless our people, give us strength to keep on fighting, wherever we are and against whoever seeks to place roadblocks in our way.
