-as Region 10 delegation embarks on US outreach
A Region 10 delegation yesterday left for the United States of America for a five-day outreach to the Diaspora, even as Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon sounded concern over the government’s apparent failure to keep its commitments to the region.
“This is of great concern,” said Solomon in a statement announcing the Linden/ Region 10 Civil Rights Movement’s overseas outreach.
Within recent days, he noted, it is becoming more apparent that Central Government is not committed to the August 21st Agreement signed with the Region 10 Administration, he said, adding that when the region entered into the agreement with the government, it did so with cautious optimism that decency would prevail, allowing for mutual respect and the implementation of the terms agreed upon.
Solomon’s statement followed on the heels of the resignation of Narvon Persaud, Chairman of the Technical Committee reviewing the Linden Electricity Tariffs as part of the agreement between Government and Region 10. Movement on two of the more significant committees set up as part of the agreement has stalled. The Economic Committee is yet to have a Chairman, as the opposition and government have been back and forth with regard to nominees.
Solomon, in his statement yesterday, recalled that it was stated that the region will trust the administration to implement the agreement because the people will see to it. “The people of Linden/Region 10 will hold this regime, the national leaders and National Assembly accountable for its delivery,” he had said at the signing, while also noting that the region would hold civic society responsible for ensuring that government and the opposition deliver on their commitment and responsibility. In the meantime, he added, the region will proceed with its own action.
Solomon admitted that the region was cautioned by others that implementation was unlikely if the government’s record was anything to go by, and it knew that the implementation phase would be an additional struggle, albeit one that he says the community is prepared for.
Members of the delegation embarking on the trip include Solomon, People’s National Congress (PNC) member and member of the Region 10 Negotiation Team Aubrey Norton, Trade Unionist and regional councillor Leslie Gonsalves, AFC Chairman and lawyer for the victims of the July 18th Linden protestor shooting, Nigel Hughes, and APNU MP for Region 10 and civil society member Morris McKinnon.
The visit will see the delegation travelling to New York, New Jersey as well as Washington, DC and over the five-day period it intends to interact with the Diaspora, bringing them up to scratch on the region’s struggle to secure civil rights for its residents. In addition to this, the delegates intend to thank those who would have supported their cause, while searching out additional avenues to establish new relationships, the statement added. Also, there are plans to meet with groups, organisations and individuals who are willing to assist in the advancing the group’s cause.
According to the statement, the group sees the diversity of the delegation as a reflection of the mosaic of their society, and the need for working together around common national goals.
As part of the activities planned for the trip, a documentary relating the story of the people’s struggle, which includes the voices of those on the ground, will be shown to the attendees at the various forums.
The group stated that though it is taking its cause abroad, it still holds the government to its commitment to “let good sense prevail and respect the rights of the citizens of Region 10 to be involved in the management and decision making of issues impacting the people’s wellbeing, allow the people to work, allow freedom of expression and dissemination of ideas/information by the returning the television station gifted to the community in the 1980’s by Green Construction.”
