Social activist Mark Benschop is calling on Guyanese not to lose hope or be fooled by a photograph with ministers of the government and United States (US) House Minority Leader, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). According to Benschop, owner of 107.1 FM radio, “that is a photo-op the installed regime was hunting for to fool Guyanese that the Honourable Congressman Jeffries is in agreement with their discrimination.”
The photograph, the host of the “Straight Up” programme is talking about, and seen above, includes from second left New York Counsel General Michael Brotherson, Junior Minister of Housing and Water Susan Rodrigues, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Oneidge Walrond, US House Minority Leader Congressman Jeffries (D-NY), and Guyana Consulate New York, Fazal Yussuff. The ministers were in New York to celebrate the West Indian Labour Day Parade on Monday and were met with protest.
Not fooled and don’t be fooled
The photograph is doing the social media rounds and has attracted mixed reactions, including disappointment. Benschop said he’s not fooled by the photograph and Guyanese must not be because the PPP is looking for photo opportunities, and he remains convinced Jeffries is committed to good governance and the end of discrimination in Guyana.
Members of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government and supporters are using the photograph to communicate the congressman is satisfied with race relations in Guyana and believes the government is allowing for shared propensity of Guyana’s wealth and practicing inclusionary democracy.
The social activist countered by asserting that “People only have to follow the congressman’s work in the Congress and his district to know how serious and committed the congressman is about these racial justice and good governance.”
The congressman has previously weighed in on reports race relations in Guyana is poor and the Indian dominated government has been discriminating against African Guyanese and excluding them from participation in the country’s economic life. He has called for both Government and Opposition to work together for all Guyanese
US Vice President Kamala Harris last year called on the Irfaan Ali government to ensure shared prosperity of Guyana’s wealth and practice inclusive democracy. Harris’ statement served as reinforcement of US’ position towards Guyana, which was earlier adumbrated by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Economic genocide
Guyana Trades Union Congress, General Secretary Lincoln Lewis, has said the PPP is practicing “economic genocide” against the African community.
The United Nations defines genocide as “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.”
The veteran trade unionist cited instances of the government conceptualizing and implementing policies to destroy the economic base of the African community to support his contention. Some of these he said are seen in the destruction of the bauxite workers’ pension plan, worth in excess of GY$2.5 billion, which was the single largest pool of money owned by a workforce that comprised more than 95 percent African workers.
He also pointed out that the government is going after African ancestral land with the aim to confiscate and deny African opportunities to land ownership for development.
Lewis’ family has experienced a similar situation with Kingelly on the West Coast Berbice, a plantation bought by his freed ancestor Cudjoe McPherson, and converted to a village.
The trade unionist also pointed to government denial of subvention (grant) to the Critchlow Labour College. The college not only provides a second chance for secondary education and opportunity to enter the University of Guyana and teachers’ training college, he said, but assists in the development of employed persons.
According to Lewis, when the government destroys a community’s right to economic and social self-determination, upliftment, in whole or part, that government is engaging in acts calculated to bring about the destruction of a group. “It is economic genocide, plain and simple,” the trade unionist pronounced .
Discrimination evident
The Irfaan Ali administration has repeatedly denied claims and evidence of discrimination. In 2022, attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes, made a presentation to the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly – Guyana (IDPADA-G), providing the proof the President called for.
Last April attorneys Hughes and Darren Wade, appeared before the United Nations, on behalf of IDPADA-G, and presented documented evidence of government discrimination in contracts and other spheres of the economy. The is an issue the Opposition has repeatedly spoken to and called on the government to end the practice. The advocacy has not resulted in change.
More than 60 percent of the National Budget goes towards contracts. In February the government-controlled National Assembly passed a GY$1.146 Trillion Budget. In July the government returned to the National Assembly and approved Supplemental Spending of more than $40 Billion.
Last year the main parliamentary Opposition, the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) joined with numerous persons and organisations in the diaspora, notably the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID), in taking their case to the US
GCID, headed by US-based Guyanese Rickford Burke and other organisations, local and in the diaspora, held a Conference in Washington D.C to highlight and discuss the problems.
Guyanese politicians had the opportunity to meet their US counterpart at Capitol Hill and present evidence of discrimination under the PPP government. Organisers of the conference said it was a resounding success.
On the part of the opposition, they had a highly successful meeting with Minority Leader Jeffries and Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). The Opposition had said discussions between the two sides includes issues of governance, elections in Guyana, developments in the local oil and gas sector.
Guyana, a wealthy country, has been historically torn by racial conflicts. In the 21st Century, social cohesion and shared prosperity elude the less than a million population due to a divide and rule policy, inherited from the colonial authority, and continues by the governing PPP. Implementation of recommendations to foster a society on racial and political respect, and economic prosperity for all, remains elusive.
