Dear Editor,
Reference is made to the article `Uneven progress on Linden agreement’, SN, October 8, 2012. The success of the August 21st Agreement between the Region 10 Regional Democratic Council and Central Government will only be realised when we, the people, collectively ensure the government honours same to the letter.
The efforts by the government to delay the work of the Economic Committee under the guise that it requires their determination of the chairmanship is a violation of the spirit and intent of the Agreement and the right of the people to economic self determination. The role of the Government in this instance is that of a facilitator not an imposer. The Linden/Region 10 struggle has its genesis in the fight to secure the right to be involved in the “management and decision making processes….that directly affect their wellbeing” in accordance with “the principal objective of the political system” as enshrined in Article 13 of the Constitution. A struggle that was initially inspired to secure said right as it pertains to the region’s electricity has expanded to other issues of regional import.
A region that has been denied the right to chart its economic course and has over the years watched its resources taken away and plundered without having a say or a stake, reaching the tipping point that resulted in a five weeks struggle literally won with the blood, sweat and tears of the people must not now be subject to further political transgression. The Regional Chairman, Sharma Solomon, having submitted names to the government who he thinks can best chair the Committee is consistent with the Constitution and it must be respected.
For instance, the Constitution says the realisation of a “democratic State with a healthy economy” requires that the “State shall facilitate the engagement of citizens in activities designed to achieve their sustainable livelihood” and “the development programme of each region shall be integrated into the national development plans, and the Government shall allocate funds to each region to enable it to implement its development programme” (articles 38A and 77). The government will do well to pay heed to these principles and resist the urge to deny the people what’s rightly theirs. Let the Committee begin its work of developing an economic plan that will see the people being put to work, ensuring their dignity and self development, which ultimately translates to the development of the nation as a whole.
Yours faithfully,
Lincoln Lewis
