By James McAllister
Irfan Ali was such an embarrassment at the UN, everyone skirted over the fact he was speaking about reparation. Yes, he could not pronounce the word, but everyone understood him to be saying, Guyana support reparation for the crime of African enslavement. What was his motive?
Irfan Ali leads a government that refuses to address the issue of African ancestral lands, and continues a vicious agenda of discrimination against African Guyanese. His government attempted to dispossess African Guyanese of lands legally acquired.
African Guyanese were forced into public and security services by the vistages of slavery, and were forced off agricultural lands because of deliberate flooding by white plantation owners. Yet today, PPP officials are arguing that African Guyanese overwhelming presence in the public and security service is something to be corrected. Yet, at the same time they are refusing to address drainage and irrigation in traditional African Guyanese villages, discriminating against them with respect to large scale land distribution, and refusing to give African Guyanese contractors equitable bite of the capital expenditure pie.
Irfan Ali’s government at home does not demonstrate any real concern for the welfare of African Guyanese. In fact, the opposite is true. So then, why is Irfan Ali at the UN speaking about the crime against enslaved Africans, and of his government’s support for reparation?
Is it a gimmick? Is the PPP maneuvering itself to put its hands on reparation dollars? Could the PPP be serious about African Guyanese benefiting from reparation dollars while at the same time refusing to address the issue of ancestral lands?
ACDA and other Afrocentric organizations should push for an official reparation committee comprised of representatives from the African Guyanese community. This committee should have a remit for international engagement.