The International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana is a registered not-for-profit organization/company which was established in response to former President Granger’s call for the African Guyanese community to be mobilized and organized for the purpose of pursuing the Goals of the United Nations declaration of a decade (2015 – 2024) for People of African Descent.
To this end, the General Assembly meets triennially to elect the Chairperson and to finalize the appointment of the Chief Executive Officer. In September of 2021 that meeting was postponed in the face of some attendees’ limited access to internet and to facilitate the completion of the enumeration and reporting on persons who were not documented for flood relief.
That postponement was greeted by a wave of letters maligning IDPADA-G`s leadership and calls for the removal of the Chairperson and the Chief Executive Officer, in addition to many other slanderous and malicious statements.
The AGM is now scheduled for Sunday, January 23, 2022, yet those who called for the meeting are still out there creating discord. One such act is to peddle the lie that the Chief Executive Officer, “Ms. Olive Sampson has at least a seventy five percent (75%) share of the membership” of this not-for-profit entity.
We are therefore publicly alerting the community of this disruptive and mischievous campaign that’s ongoing, with erroneous and dishonest statements aimed at undermining the holding of the AGM and the continued smooth functioning of the organization. Not-for- profit companies do not have any kind of shares attached to their incorporation. This is but one example of the slander, misinformation and lies that are being peddled with mal intent.
The organization carries out its mandate through its various bodies: the General Assembly, which is its highest forum; the committees of the Assembly which develop and executes its work programme; and its Secretariat which provides the machinery for programme implementation and administrative support.
The organization has a membership of over 60 Afro-centric organizations. It was inaugurated in December 2017 and has been the recipient of a subvention from the Government of Guyana from its inception. There has also been the intervention of the Government by way of a summons to meet with the Minister responsible Youth, Culture and Sports, and an audit ordered by the Ministry of Finance.
All sincere members of IDPADA-G are entitled and invited to participate in the AGM virtually or in-person on Sunday, January 23 where all concerns can be addressed. Do not fall prey to the sinister plot that’s unfolding. Let’s learn from our history. When the antagonists wanted to destroy Marcus Garvey’s movement for the liberation of people of African Descent, they sought to criminalize him.
