By Jeff Trotman
Lindeners have been called upon to resume protests if, in the next 30 days, government fails to honour the agreements it brokered with the region on August 21 last year to stop a month-long agitation against a proposed electricity rate hike.
Governance in Region Ten requires militancy from every citizen, the Chairman of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), Sharma Solomon candidly stressed in his keynote address on Thursday evening during the final activity to commemorate the death of three protesters, Ron Somerset, 18, Shemroy Bouyea, 24, and Allan Lewis, 46, who were shot on July 18.
Sharma said that although the aim of the evening’s activity was to commemorate the lives lost and the sacrifices made during last year’s struggle, he wants the people of the region to remain vigilant, mobilized, prepared to stand for their rights and demand that the government honours the agreement it signed on August 21, 2012.
“We must be prepared to ensure that the lives lost one year ago and the struggles made one year ago … must not go in vain,” Solomon emphasized. “We must ensure that those who asked us to return to a state of normalcy (and) we acted in good faith … with an understanding that a government that went into an agreement with you the people, would stick by their words and all those four aspects of the agreement – and we giving them 32 days,” he said.
Saying that no sound achievement is obtained freely, Solomon told his audience of over 500 people that “We fought for everything. We fought for the right to life. We fought for the right to be free. We fought for the right to assemble like you’re doing here …” and future generations would applaud the struggle of last year with the same admiration that the current generation has for previous generations that fought to improve their human condition. He, however, cautioned that such achievement can only be attained through collective effort.
Solomon said he is prepared to play his part along with the RDC by “grounding” with the people in the various sections of the town and mobilizing them to resume protest action if the government does not fulfill the agreement.
Showering praise on Christians, who visibly participated in last year’s protest as well as this year’s first anniversary commemoration of the event, Solomon said: “In our quest for self-determination, we remain uncompromising.” He added: “Those, who exercise respect for our cause, we welcome you to do so.
We welcome the brotherhood and sisterhood from Buxton, who gave food last year when we were in our struggles. I want to thank them. For our brothers in Georgetown and even in the Diaspora, who gave to you sustenance, I want to thank them.”
In the same breath, he cautioned those who see the struggle as an opportunity to impose their agenda on the region to stay away “for we have grown wary and intolerant of those who want to treat us as children and second class citizens.” In reiterating his commitment as regional chairman to lead in the quest for a better life for all Linden residents, Solomon said that while he is a law-abiding citizen, like most Linden residents he firmly believes that any law that impinges on one’s constitutional rights must be broken. He added that the region must get its representatives in parliament to influence the nation’s legislators to amend any law that impinges on citizens’ constitutional rights.
Agreement
Referring to the August 21 agreement, Solomon said the region’s representatives met with central government officials on July 10 and told them that the region is becoming impatient since none of the conditions of the agreement has been honoured by the government. He said the region’s representatives had told the government officials that it was the first time that the government was sitting down with a regional body.
Pointing out that the return of the television dish in Linden to the people was one of the conditions of the agreement, Solomon said that contrary to government representatives saying that the government had given the dish to the region, it was really the region taking back something that belonged to it.
Reiterating that “any law that violates your rights is a law deserving to be challenged,” Solomon said “this vindictiveness, childishness and petty politics has now seen an astronomical increase in the cost for the … television licence from $250,000 to $2.5 million. The reason for doing this is to deny us the right for self-expression to continue to communicate our minds and they want to ensure that when they communicate to our minds, those lies that they perpetuate meet you live and direct from GINA, which I think the opposition rightfully cut that budget.
Another condition of the agreement was returning the land selection committee to the region’s control. But, according to the regional chairman, central government has not been cooperating in this regard.
Stressing that such non-cooperation continues to deny Lindeners the opportunity to acquire land to build homes and engage in agriculture, Solomon said that “we are prepared to follow Dr. (Cheddi) Jagan’s advice that if you want to squat, I will not stop you, people. It is your land, it is our land and we will not let it go to waste and let foreigners reap its bounties while we go without.”
Another condition of the agreement, the economic committee, is yet to be agreed upon even though the region has submitted the names of its representatives, Solomon said. He stressed that the delay has been created because “the government intends to foist upon us persons and a system that will draft an economic plan to support their aim to continue an economic marginalization of this region.”
He said the technical committee had begun its work and this is for one reason – in furtherance of the government’s agenda – an increase in electricity charge. Arguing that last year, Lindeners were faced with at least a 1500% increase in the electricity tariff, Solomon said single mothers and pensioners would have been faced with this “astronomical” cost.
“It is only an evil mentality that would first conjure up such a concept,” Solomon asserted. “Then, secondly, impose and beat you into submission to accept such a wicked decision.” Stating that such a mentality still lingers, Solomon cautioned his audience to “pay careful attention.”
Stressing that the electricity rate in Linden remains the same, Solomon thanked the town’s populace for its intervention through last year’s protest action. He said that he wanted central government to know that “this region is tired of being pushed around” and will challenge the government at every forum. He added that he wants Linden “to understand that this agreement that we signed on 21 August will have to be honoured to the letter and if the Executive and our elected representatives in Parliament on both sides of the aisles believe in the oath that they have taken to secure the people, that they would do so…”
According to him, leadership means one thing – service. He further stated that the people in Region Ten will continue to protest the government’s imposition because the government does not only seem to lack the will but there is a determined stance by some to continue to violate the people’s constitutional rights and to encourage expatriate companies such as Bai Shan Lin and Rusal to trample on the rights of citizens. He stressed that the people will have to hold such companies accountable.
The commemorative exercise, which took the form of a variety concert, featured poetry reading by veteran poet Frank Fyffe, vocal renditions by several artistes including David and Mackenzie High School student, Naiomi Alsopp, who also read her first-prize winning essay on how the events of July 18 impressed upon her the people’s quest to assert their constitutional rights under the rule of law.
