By GHK Lall- The United Nations (UN) passed a resolution about a month ago extending into a second decade (2025-2034) the plight of peoples of African Descent globally. The second decade’s theme selected by the UN is: People of African Descent: Recognition, Justice, and Development.”
The last years of the first decade of this UN recognition, with IDPADA-G (International Decade of People of African Descent -Guyana) being their leading advocate, have been a record of political sordidness, national leadership mischiefs, and a demented effort to strangle the hopes and aspirations of Guyanese of African Descent. The hope, mine is, that the light will shine through in this second decade, and that there will finally be Recognition, Justice, and Development for People of African Descent in Guyana.
Every scurrilous trick in the local political leadership book was tried. The objective was never in doubt, always clear: to gut IDPADA-G, to remove it from the social and economic equations of African Guyanese, and to replace it with those who see things the PPP Government’s way. It has not been a constructive way, with the interests and uplift of African Guyanese standing as a genuine consideration.
In the government’s quest to remove obstacles that inhibit its rush toward total dominance and control of every aspect of life in Guyana, IDPADA-G was seen as a threat, a block and, in some respects, a competitor for the minds and hearts of African Guyanese. What had to be withheld, therefore, to put it out of operation, was withheld under some of the most unpersuasive pretexts.
Unscrupulous methods were tried, unfair accusations hurled, unbelievable slanders broadcasted. What type of government engages in that kind of guerilla activity against members of its own citizenry, using odious tactics, and what I would call a blatantly racist vision? What can be said of the quality of leadership, any individual leader, that steeps itself/himself in such sleazy practices, and stoops to such stomach-churning depths?
Whatever can be said, or twisted for cheap points, does not and cannot detract from the relentless efforts by the PPP Government to suppress a group that was doing well for its African Guyanese constituents. Nothing has been proven against this group, nothing has stuck. Despite the power of big government unleashed to smash out of existence those considered to be opponents, those who should have no place. This is the tragic irony, the burning reality, of a government that says it is all about national unity. For whom and how, when the racially repulsive is embraced, let loose in the last few years against IDPADA-G?
The next decade, the first years of it, will convey most clearly the extent of the PPP Government’s sincerity in adhering to that new UN theme that is compressed into: People of African Descent: Recognition, Justice, and Development.” Will the government and its leaders change course and unequivocally recognize IDPADA-G as a vital group, a needed partner, a trusted presence in the local environment? One that is dedicated to the welfare of the people who look to it for succor?
To do otherwise would be to continue a charade. To do otherwise would be a travesty of what is right. With or without the advocacy of IDPADA-G, Guyanese of African Descent do not believe that they are treated justly, that they have been consistent recipients of the justice and equity guaranteed under the Guyana Constitution. I would think that the PPP Government would be interested in influencing a reversal of that mindset. Its treatment of IDPADA-G would be the bar that when scaled provides the evidence of its authenticity.
Justice is not what political leaders say that it is, and how so. Justice is, as experienced by those living with the blows of injustice, and all the harms that that instil. The first tangible element of where African Guyanese stand in the government’s considerations has to be how it deals with IDPADA-G going forward. IDPADA-G must feature in the local social firmament, with the ability to continue and expand its work to give hope to the children of slaves.
There could not be a greater distance between where the PPP Government is and what the UN calls for, and is set to push ahead with in the upcoming decade. The UN is calling for Recognition of People of African Descent. The PPP Government’s record is of retaliatory action. The UN has prioritised justice for People of African Descent. In PPP Guyana, inflicting injustice has been high on their political agenda.
When the government has had opportunity for heart-to-heart exchanges with IDPADA-G, it has preferred the hatchet. The UN is emphasising over and over the need for filling that empty column that speaks of reparations. The PPP Government is most at home when dealing with repression. This doesn’t aid in the development of People of African Descent. Instead, it diminishes them, devastates them, even divides them.
Government leaders like when the UN lends its voice, weight, in the heat of national elections here, to help sort out the usual domestic mess. It must manifest a similar degree of enthusiasm when the same UN says let the next decade be about: “African People: Recognition, Justice, and Development.” It is time for the PPP Government and its leaders to show all Guyanese that it can be honest, it can be inclusive, it can be respectful, and it can be about what is truly just.