Dear Editor,
I read with interest Prime Minister Mark Phillip’s letter published on Sunday, 30th 2022 edition of Stabroek News captioned,” I appeal to Guyanese not to become entrapped by an opposition that is becoming increasingly isolated”. In his missive, the PM wrote much and said little to justify the premise of his letter. I summarized his viewpoint as follows: (a) the opposition is seeking to change the government’s narrative; (b) the opposition using race to further its agenda; (c) the PPP’s policies are to the benefit of all Guyanese; (d) the government is addressing African developmental issues. Each of the above are profound issues and requires separate letters to adequately address. I will not give a detailed analysis for the reason stated.
The PM made much of the fact that the opposition is seeking to change the government’s narrative. What does the PM expect? The opposition’s role is to promote its narrative to the population and not that of the government.
This is the A.B.C of politics. Since Mr. Phillips is a political “just comer” his deficiency in this area can be overlooked. However, his claim that the opposition is engaged in race-baiting is a different matter. In the context of Guyana’s history of race and politics, with both major parties consciously playing the race card, his concern can’t be taken seriously. This has been our reality for six decades. Mr. Phillips seemingly waking up to this reality is questionable. He must be aware that his selection by the PPP as their Prime Ministerial Candidate and the role that he is presently playing as a concerned African is itself a form of race-baiting on the race question.
It is a superficial strategy commonly used in the United States, especially by the Republican Party, to place African Americans in “front” to “prove” through superficial “imagery” that the party has the best interests of African Americans. The Prime Minister’s claim that the PPP policies benefit all Guyanese is a position a ruling party and government will take even if the reality is different. He is entitled to his partisan and self-serving position. What matters is how the Guyanese people see government policies. The issue here is not as suggested by the PM. It is not whether the policies benefit all Guyanese. What needs to be answered is the extent that the majority of the population’s interest is addressed in a timely way, and adequately and fairly, when compared with other sections of the community.
On the issue of the government addressing African issues, the PM is either dishonest or ignorant of what constitutes “African issues”. In his letter, he points to “trials” ignoring fundamental issues. I beg to differ from the PM and state quite clearly that the PPP/government is deliberately hostile to African interests. And I am saying so as a political activist of over 50 years and one who had fought with the PPP against the PNC at a time when they were not in the office. May I school the Prime Minister, on the minimum, of what constitutes African interests: (1) The government must recognize the damage done to Africans by enslavement. The denial of more than 200 plus years of non-payment for our work in building Guyana – resulting in the loss of generational wealth for the African community. (2) A public admission that at present Africans own less than 10% of the national economy, and a commitment to a time-driven economic plan to correct this dismal situation. We need policies that aim at economic parity in a planned and predictable way. (3) The end of the negative historical political competition that is based on a “winner” take all governance system.
Africans want executive power sharing not the trite statements of a strategically chosen Prime Minister. (4) Most importantly, the use of oil wealth to correct historical deficiencies in the nation and equal access to oil wealth for all races starting with the Buxton Proposal, that Guyanese householders be given US$ 5,000 annually as cash transfer from oil revenues. As I indicated at the outset, this is not a comprehensive response to PM Phillips’s missive. Hopefully, I have said enough to make him reflect on his uninformed utterances on matters he has no history of previous public advocacy on. In making this response, the intent was to push back on the PM’s propaganda on the seriousness of the issue of the African condition in Guyana and the PPP/government’s disrespectful and contemptuous treatment of the African community – that amounts to political footballing, or as some might state, political back balling.
In conclusion, I want to drive home to Prime Minister Mark Phillips that he is the beneficiary of the very race-baiting politics which he condemns.
Sincerely,
Tacuma Ogunseye