President Irfaan Ali should focus on the economic injustices his government inflicts daily on the ordinary people and correct these through affirmative action, reparative justice, respecting the human rights and dignity of all Guyanese, and the Constitution and Laws of Guyana. So said shadow Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Roysdale Forde, S.C.
The president was reacting to Sir John Gladstone family who apologised for their role in slavery and indentureship, and made a donation of £100,000 to the University of Guyana (UG), with a promise to do more. Speaking last Friday at the UG event, Charles Gladstone, a fifth generation descendant of British slave owner, Gladstone, offered “sincerest apologies” to the people of Guyana for the actions of Gladstone “in holding your ancestors in slavery in Demerara.”
In acknowledging the apology, Ali said it is a first step in the process of reparative justice, and reiterated an earlier call “on those who were complicit in and who profited from the trade in captive Africans and African enslavement to offer just reparations.” The shadow minister, in an invited comment with Village Voice News, said Ali’s call is insincere and deceitful, particularly when compared with the manner in which his government treats African Guyanese.
According to Forde, the president is no different than the enslavers and colonisers and if he so cares and is concerned about the Gladstone family apology and paying reparations, “he must demonstrate this by treating Guyanese better, paying real wages to the workers of Guyana, adequately compensate Guyanese whose homes were uprooted and destroyed, and correct the several acts of economic, political and social injustices that have come to characterise the regime.”
Success and Vreed-en-Hoop
Drawing attention to Ali’s recount of the plantations Gladstone owned, including Success on the East Coast Demerara and Vreed-en-Hoop, West Bank Demerara, among others, the shadow minister said these named areas are painful reminders of Ali’s cruelty and inhumanity.
He recalled in October 2020 the Ali government flooded lands in Success, as a means of removing persons, which resulted in damage to properties-houses, vehicles, vegetation, livestock, among others- at a cost to still be determined.
A few days ago, he reminded, the government destroyed the homes of persons in Vreed-en-Hoop, some of whom have been living in the area for decades, to facilitate their gas-to-shore project. These persons were treated inhumanely and have suffered losses yet to be accurately quantified and compensated by the state, Forde pointed out.
Not quite done, he reminded of the inhumane treatment meted out to the people of Cane View/Mocha Arcadia in January when the government, under the protection of the Guyana Police Force, used heavy-duty vehicles to destroy homes, businesses and other properties of residents, at a value yet to be determined and compensation rewarded.
The apology
The senior counsel pointed out that whilst the reparation movement, in general, looks at the colonial states that benefitted it has not sought to hold the individual accountable. That individuals are coming forward provides an opportunity for further representation to the former colonial states, he pointed out.
Forde said whilst Gladstone represents an individual who was involved in slavery and indentureship, “that his descendants now recognise they profited off the backs, blood, sweat and tears of African people; that they have come forward offering ‘sincerest apologies’ are commendable, worthy of praise, encouragement, and embrace.”
The senior counsel said even as he acknowledges these he wants it to be clear these acts cannot negate the fact, slavery, though legal, was inhumane and the world’s most brutish system. “No monetary reward and other measures can adequately compensate for the deprivation, marginalisation and trauma, evident unto today, people of African ancestry suffered and continue to suffer, and the rape of resources (human, capital and natural) from the continent of Africa.” These we must never forget lest we accept an environment where such atrocities are repeated, he contended.
Sir John Gladstone’s fifth generation (Photo: CMC)
Touching on Gladstone role in indentureship the parliamentarian noted whilst this remains incomparable to slavery it was a system where persons worked and lived under harsh conditions and were not treated, in many regards, equal to the Europeans, even though made to feel they were better than Africans and Amerindians.
On the issue of UG and other organisations hosting the Gladstone family, Forde said, the matter of reparations is more than rubbing shoulders with the descendants of former masters or not, as done by members of the Ali government. “We have to be organised and be deliberative in our efforts to accept and make use of the contribution of the Gladstone family.”
According to the parliamentarian, it is not just about rubbing shoulders and articulating other’s agenda, “it’s an opportunity to move forward on this first initiative towards acknowledging responsibility for reparative justice of ill-gotten ancestral wealth and mending fences with the descendants of former enslavers.”
Response to reparations
In April, United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, speaking in Parliament dismissed the call for government to apologise and pay reparations for the country’s historic role in slavery, and in the same month UK’s wealthiest slave owners launched an activist movement, urging the government to apologise for slavery and offer reparative justice, Forde advised.
Further, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has since 2014 been pursuing efforts to facilitate discussions on its 10-point reparations plans with former powers, and President Ali must be guided by these efforts, and not his penchant for disruptive behaviours, the senior counsel cautioned.
He said he would like to see the regional and UK movements grow, to the point where former powers will find it difficult to ignore their role and complicity in these inhumane acts and move to appropriately compensate the affected.
Returning to matters at home, Forde noted that sadly in 21st century independent Guyana, the Ali government, in many ways, is not different from the colonial masters and enslavers. “President Ali presides over the most brutish and worst period in post-independent Guyana, inflicting daily the very inhumanity and abuses slaves and indentured servants fought against.”
The parliamentarian shared that under Ali’s leadership, the state and people are regressing, not progressing.
