Dear Editor,
Raphael Trotman ‘s 2007 Christmas Message (KN 23/12/06) said “those who voted for the AFC in 2006 knew that they were voting for a party that would not represent racial groups, but all Guyanese.” I hold Trotman accountable to his statement. First, Trotman needs to come clean and acknowledge that people are from different races and they voted for the AFC so their interests cannot be ignored. Second, Africans are Guyanese and like every Guyanese race have interests unique to their needs and it is expected that the AFC will give political and parliamentary representation to them.
Trotman is a student of law and must be familiar with laws attending to the interests of individual and collective races. The AFC cannot ignore the fact that no two races are alike and identical thus their interests at times will be dissimilar. The unique and dissimilar interests have to be represented.
Africans last year attempted and failed to get Parliament to pass into law efforts to formalize land titles bought by our ancestors after slavery.
Ancestral land is a case unique and peculiar to the African community. This law would have aided an African drive to self sufficiency and empowerment. If Trotman understands his quoted statement and is cognizant of laws unique to racial interests it is expected as he leads the AFC team in parliament he sees to it that the PPP passes the Ancestral Bill that will respect Africans’ right to property ownership.
Whenever I speak about non-representation of African interests by AFC African leaders with haste persons attacked me and defended these leaders without examining the merits of my contentions.
Arguments were presented to make believe Africans are self inflicted, unambitious and incapable of property ownership and business acumen. These writers now need to join me in 2008 and demand of the African AFC Leaders, viz, Raphael Trotman, Cathy Hughes, Sheila Holder and Dennis Patterson, that this year be the year when consideration is given to the rights of Africans, who are Guyanese.
In Trotman’s Christmas Message he boasted of what he believed was the AFC 2007 acts of nobility in the gifts and award given out to the needy/deserving, but these giveaways were alms. There can be nothing more disrespecting and hurting to people’s pride to receive alms when people have the capacity to do things for themselves. Africans are a proud people and though some may be happy for the ‘gifts’ at this unfortunate period in their lives, they are not happy about it and the seeming intent by those who use these opportunities to flaunt their sense of benevolence.
Africans believe that if assistance is to be given or knowledge shared it should be focused on how to fish not make us dependant on others to feed us fishes. Africans reject the state of mendicancy the AFC and others are trying to impose on us.
We say respect our rights by passing the Bill to formalize ancestral land and agitating in parliament for the issues we raise and consider important and relevant to us. Trotman, Hughes, Patterson and Holder, you cannot ignore African rights and concerns and your responsibility in 2008 must be to represent our interests at the political and parliamentary levels. We demand no more and expect no less.
Yours faithfully,
Osafo Modibo
