Dear Editor,
The people of Region 10 will persevere and succeed. It is public knowledge that the PPP has viciously targeted us because of our political association, dominant racial identity, independence and determination. It is also becoming clearer the wealth and resources of this region that were built and tamed with our blood, sweat and tears are the envy of the PPP. By now the public is aware of our capabilities and our resistance toward those who threaten to deny us our God-given right to equality. Before we knew this right was enshrined in the constitution it was instilled in us before we could talk, being sung as a lullabies from the hymnal by our caregivers.
This is the world within which we started making sense of our reality. It is a world that as we grew older we instinctively passed on to the babies around us. It is a world that cannot and will not be changed. It is a world that gives meaning to our existence and a world we will continue to stand and fight to secure for ourselves and loved ones. In short order, we were nurtured on this value and continue to bequeath this nourishment to our descendants. This is who we are.
When eleven-year-old Waynewright Marshall of the Amelia’s Ward Primary School, was declared the winner in the just concluded Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) Spelling Bee Competition, it was another proud day for Region 10. In 2011 Terron Alleyne of Regma Primary topped Guyana at the Grade Six Exams. In 2010 the country’s top ten students for the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Exams were from McKenzie High School. In 2012 this school ranked 2nd countrywide with CAPE scores boasting 100% passes in Maths Units 1 and 2. This is a sample of the minds nurtured and raised in Region 10 and testimony to the premium we place on education. Meletia Hossannah, Suzanne Hamilton, Waynewright Marshall, Terron Alleyne and all our children make us proud.
As a resident, trade unionist and councillor, congratulations are in order for our young guns. They continue to represent the symbol of what a people can achieve in spite of the obstacles placed before and around them. They are precious to us and make our hearts swell. Our children are constant reminders that even though this government has denied us much, the desire to create opportunities for them will steel our determination to continue waging this just war, to ensure a world that treats them preciously.
After the arsonist/s burnt the One Mile Primary School, the Minister of Education thought her divisive political rant would gain mileage and deter our pursuit for justice; similarly those who misguidedly thought our fight for the right to self determination would involve us destroying the very things that make us who we are, and on which we are reliant. Even with the tirade the Minister was compelled to admit, “Linden has the most trained teachers in Guyana with 93 per cent of the primary level being trained.” On Saturday we began putting down the new structure in our continued self help to rebuild our school. These are the moments when my grandson would use the catchphrase, “Hello…!” to express his delight.
With unemployment in Linden very high, on which our recent street struggles also focused, on September 15 the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) awarded two contracts valued at $475 million to S Jagmohan Hardware Supplies and Construction Services. This has been the practice of government, and it has been the practice of these contractors to bring workers from outside of the region to do the job. If any work is granted to Lindeners it will be for the lower paid jobs, even though Lindeners are more qualified and better equipped for the job than their supervisors, and are often the ones who realize the project’s success. What qualifies Jagmohan to be awarded these contracts over contractors in Linden, a community that has the nation’s most skilled artisans who built the region’s water system, and have an outstanding work ethic? Nothing. But the real answer lies in who we are and why we are being targeted.
It confirms why we are denied the right to work, to participate in our development, and the right to be represented by a trade union of choice and engage in collective bargaining, as in the case of the three-year-old stand-off between the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI) and the Guyana Bauxite & General Workers Union (GB& GWU), which continues to be enabled by the Donald Ramotar administration despite the fact that the High Court has ordered action. This opportunity is taken to advise President Ramotar that justice delayed is justice denied and his contempt for some workers leaves the union no other option but to intensify action to ensure the court’s decision is respected.
And with the July 18 Commission of Inquiry which started on Monday, September 24, the people of Region 10 are paying close attention. We heard the inconsistencies and dishonesty of those in uniform. We are awaiting our day on the witness stand, when we will have our turn to speak the truth.
Additionally, the information in the 2011 US Department of Labor Report that citied Guyana as guilty of “the worst forms of child labour” is something known by us. The fact that this report gets coverage serves as a reminder of the peril we face, as Guyanese, when we have to wait for another to speak for us, because we are not allowed to speak for ourselves. The said concern was raised by me in a letter sent to the media with specific mention made of the use of children to gather scrap metal in Linden in the environs of the Montgomery mines by an employer. This information was deleted from the letter. As a trade unionist the denial of my effort to draw the nation’s attention to the violation of the Rights of the Child raises concern for the perpetuation of this wrong by those within our midst who opt to hide the wrong.
All Guyana’s children are precious and we must all be able to live in an environment that assures us of this.
Yours faithfully,
Leslie Gonsalves
