Dear Editor,
I am very surprised that up to the time of writing President Bharrat Jagdeo has not come out in response to Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson’s announ-cement on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 that undocumented Caricom nationals who have been living in his country for more than eight years will be kicked out by December 1, unless they regularize themselves in the six months prior to that date. Seventy per cent of them are Guyanese.
I follow Barbados current affairs especially when it comes to polices in the Caribbean, since I am studying journalism. I can remember at the last election in Barbados the Democratic Labour Party (DLB) which was in opposition at that time led by David Thompson accused the ruling party, the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) of allowing over 30,000 Guyanese to live in Barbados and pledged that his administration would remove all those persons once elected to government. Mr David Thompson became Prime Minister of Barbados in January last year and since then his administration has been looking at ways of getting rid of Guyanese. Everyone knows very well that most of the documented and undocumented Caricom nationals living in Barbados are Guyanese, and many of them have contributed significantly to the construction industry, to the teaching and nursing professions, as domestics and in all other fields to make Barbados what it is today.
Prime Minister Thompson told in the House of Assembly the current levels of illegal immigrants were unacceptably high, were increasingly difficult to control and posed potentially negative socio-economic challenges for the country. This action is totally out of place, especially at a time when the world economy is on a downturn and we need to embrace each other. Mr Thompson needs to be very careful in his speech and in what he is doing to ensure that whatever is put on the table doesn’t come back to haunt him and the people of Barbados.
If everyone thinks like Mr Thompson then all at the regional level will suffer. At the end of the day there are scores of big businesses in Barbados owned by non-Barbadians which have been employing locals for decades, and if foreigners pack up and leave then there will be a collapse in the business and tourism industry in Barbados.
If others look at things on the basis of an eye for an eye, then what will happen to our people? This is really an inconsiderate move by the Prime Minister coming at a time when there is talk and more talk about regional integration.
I am very surprised by the unwillingness of President Bharrat Jagdeo to speak on behalf of his people living overseas, especially those living and working in Barbados. The Jagdeo government knows very well that they are forcing many Guyanese like myself out of our homeland as a result of the high cost of living, discrimination, unemployment and ethnic problems, which are impeding the country from moving forward in spite of all its resources, because of poor governance and mismanagement. It must not go unnoticed that the only reason Guyanese go to Barbados to work is because of the money and the fact that they want a better life which Guyana doesn’t offer to its citizens. The Guyana Government should do the honourable thing and make some kind of statement on behalf of those Guyanese who are living and working in Barbados.
I must commend the St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves for lashing out at Barbados immigration policy in an emotional speech on Thursday. Gonsalves said that Vincentians, Guyanese, Grenadians, St Lucians and Jamaicans were facing discrimination from their Caribbean neighbours and that Caricom member states were not living up to the spirit of the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. “My office receives heart-rending stories of Vincentian nationals who have been subjected to unfair, unconscionable and discriminatory treatment by some immigration authorities within member states of Caricom,” Gonsalves said. “It is sad to note that in the 21st century, some responsible persons, including some political leaders, are stoking chauvinistic fires that are latent in our Caribbean societies. This has led here and there to an outpouring of a malignant xenophobia particularly against Guyanese, Jamaicans, Vincentians, St Lucians and Grenadians,” he was quoted as saying.
I am calling on President Bharrat Jagdeo and other Caribbean leaders to come out and criticize the move by their Barbadian counterpart.
Yours faithfully,
Rayvonne P Bourne
