Dear Editor,
It is appalling to note that even in the ‘International Year for People of African Descent’ the PPP government has decided that it will determine for us Africans who will be our leaders, our role models, which Africans will participate or be invited to functions that the government is holding. It is also noted that one of the main speakers at the government launching of the year is the person who attacked the PNC motion to parliament to set up an ancestral land commission to regularize African lands. These people who over the years have denied us our rights are once again trying to define and determine for us our programme to observe a year designated by the United Nations for us. This is naked eyes-pass and the PPP must be told of it.
I am confident that if the United Nations has dedicated this year for persons of Indian Descent and it was under the PNC government, Indians would not have been treated this way. I say so because in 1988 when Guyana was observing the 150 Year of the Arrival of Indians, the Indian community determined their programme. I remember Cheddi Jagan, Yesu Persuad and other leaders in politics, business and so forth being very prominent at these functions and playing leading roles.
What this government continues to do to Africans is an affront and it is my sincerest wish that this year Africans are allowed their right to expression to tell their stories, in their voice, of their pains, anguish and aspirations.
Yours faithfully,
Osafo Modibo
