Dear Editor,
Mr Mohamed Alli in his letter of 7.6.08 titled ‘Sport needs to be revitalized at Leonora’ quotes from the Moyne Commission report. He says, “Another very important proposal was for the government to consult with the sugar producers for the imposition of a welfare levy on every ton of sugar produced. This recommendation resulted in the establishment in 1947 of a Labour Welfare Fund and money paid into this fund was allocated generally for the building of housing schemes for sugar workers.” I venture to say that his quotation can be found nowhere in the Moyne Commission report. If what Mr Alli is saying is true then I ask that he cite the page number for me. And for clarity’s sake Mr Mohamed Akeel who now heads the Sugar Industry Labour Welfare Fund (SILWF) should give the nation the truth about the fund. I cite for Mr Alli’s interest from page 214 paragraph 69 of the Moyne Commission report: “69… as examples of the purposes upon which these funds could properly be expended we may mention the permission of buildings for purposes of recreation, and of playing fields and sports grounds.” This is the clause that made cricket grounds and community centres a must for people who belonged to the housing scheme.
Reading Mr Nick Jackson’s letter of May 28, 2008, ‘Guysuco will not stand in the way of the community renovating Leonora Park,’ I was right to say that I am disappointed. Why?
The directorship of a state corporation changes as the government or leadership changes. Today the directorship is under the influence of the PPP government. If tomorrow it changes, wherever their political influence abounds, lo and behold the next government (or leader) will put its hands on all those boards and organizations that carry the PPP signature. This is basically the experience of Leonora Park which caused it to be abandoned. After sixteen long years of the PPP in government, now we hear something about it. What happened during that time? Lots of young people became adapted to drugs, alcoholism, and other forms of social evil.
Again the directorship of Guysuco has erred by entertaining Mr Alli’s plan to renovate the park. This is exclusively the right of the SILWF. The government according to the Moyne Commission has the right to consult with the sugar producers. Equally, so too with the SILWF. If there were a full commitment to the renovation of the park, it would be the bounden duty of the SILWF to hold out for the workers and its own exclusive rights. It is the government’s duty to see that these rights are maintained.
As mentioned above, whenever a government changes, the whole machinery of influence changes. This government being a working class government, together with the SILWF should learn from previous experience and protect the rights, dignity and status of the people who I must say are constantly cheated. This government should ensure everything is done on a guaranteed basis with immediate effect. I note with general concern that this government has appropriated to Den Amstel community $43M to develop their community ground. The people of Den Amstel have complete autonomy, so why it is therefore that the government cannot give autonomy to all the societies? Is not Leonora worthy of this? When Guysuco agrees to Mr Alli’s plan gaining precedence in relation to the park, is this the spirit of the Moyne Commission?
So far we have been talking about Leonora ark. Our problems in relation to sport go beyond the park. Up to 1964 we had a welfare centre. That was built in expatriate times. Because of the calamity of 1964, and also the relocation of the population of Leonora we should have been given a community centre elsewhere. There was vacant land in the Para Field area. By 2005 the Leonora Reunion Chapter of USA would have aided with the funding of such a building. As it was to be housed in the welfare centre, we would have had sections in that building for indoor sports and outside adjoining it, outdoors sports.
However, this land was taken away. Children and young sports enthusiasts in Leonora now have nowhere to play. The Leonora Park is approximately three-quarters of a mile away. I sent protest letters to the President at a moment when satisfactory investigations could have been done to show the injustice done to Leonora, as well as a suggestion to foster sports in the Groenveldt area (a section in Leonora) to no avail. Now these new intentions are afloat, sports expansion in Leonora it seems may come to be dominated by the party people.
When we see the continuous interjection by the party at Leonora one wonders what the destiny of sport is. Will it be sport or PPP politics? Has the spirit of the Moyne Commission been subverted?
Yours faithfully,
Vaidram Persaud
