Dear Editor,
2006 marked further decline in the economic, social and political life of the African community. The African vote became the issue of a tug-of-war in the recently held national and regional elections. Mr. Jagdeo was bold enough to challenge Mr. Trotman about his ability to win more African votes than the PPP. It is this same President Jagdeo under whose stewardship Africans have suffered their worst fate. The phantom squads, depressed villages, and lost lives are the results of the value his administration placed on African lives. Some Africans have contributed to this contempt by allowing themselves to be hired guns and turning to a life of crime.
In 2007 here are some of the reasonable expectations of the African community:
1. As a voting bloc worthy to be fought over, we expect those to whom we entrust the responsibility to manage our affairs to be accountable for protecting and safeguarding our worth.
2. We expect the AFC and PNC to pay special attention to their constituents whose votes have given them their parliamentary seats and income. These constituents want meaningful representation and not lip service. These constituents want to see programmes where their interests are articulated, reflected and represented. For starters we want to see the retirement age pushed back, re-examination of the tax threshold to cushion the effect of VAT, bauxite issue properly debated in parliament, job creation and wealth distribution, a programme to help depressed communities, an end to criminality, cessation of extra-judicial killing, etc
3. We expect African cultural organisations, such as ACDA, PANAF, and others to be converted into mass based organisations. Take the knowledge and leadership to respective African communities in efforts to eliminate our oppression and marginalisation. Africans do not want to hear of these organisations only at emancipation time. Our ancestors have left rich legacies where cooperatives and other community based institutions were used to develop our villages and towns. Africans would like to see these cultural organisations return to the villages and towns and recommence a programme to entrench cooperatives, burial societies, etc. to serve the interest of our people.
4. We expect the Church to become more interested in civil and human rights issues in the society. We want the Church to emulate the works and struggle of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Rev Jessie Jackson, Rev Al Sharpton, Farakhan and others who used the Holy Bible and other religious texts to support their fight against marginalisation and oppression. Like these great men, local sermons must address the problems of the society and provide solutions.
5. We expect the labour movement to become a movement which addresses the issues of their constituents and stop protecting the elite racist and oppressive classes. In this regards special attention is paid to the GLU and GTU. The GLU, of which Mr. Robert Corbin is President General continues to allow Mr. Carvil Duncan to use the workers’ organisation to do the government’s bidding. Mr. Corbin should not feel that he is absolved and unscathed from what is happening in the GLU since as president general he will be held accountable for the actions of the GLU under his stewardship. GTU President, Colwyn King must understand that his act of signing a shoddy five year agreement is a betrayal of workers’ rights and trust.
6. We expect the African Renaissance will be intensified and that the thinkers of the renaissance continue the process of education and enlightenment by coming into the villages and towns and spreading the message, mobilising and empowering our people.
7. We expect that Africans will continue to engage in actions that will cause our people to be proud and make the task difficult for those who want to continue to marginalize and oppress us.
This year marks 200 years since Britain passed the Act which brought an end to slavery.
This Act came about not because the Europeans loved us, but because our ancestors fought for it by refusing to sit back and allow themselves to be oppressed. We are the product of these great freedom fighters. The fight is now ours to continue.
Yours faithfully,
Quacy O.Softleigh
