Dear Editor,
The Burnham Foundation is compelled, at this juncture, to call upon the African Prosperity Network to rescind its decision to bestow President Irfaan Ali with its African Global Leadership award. What has President Ali done to warrant an award to be presented, ostensibly, in recognition of Guyana as the ‘fastest growing economy’, and his sharing of the nation`s prosperity “along the principles of equity and probity”? It is mere coincident that Ali is the President at this time of a bonanza due to the discovery, production and sale of oil. That cannot be the basis for an award. The Ali regime has openly articulated that the Guyanese of African descent, as a subset of the population, do not need equitable treatment, as redress for post emancipation economic and social depravation. With regard to probity, actions such as the demolition of African Guyanese homesteads and farmsteads in Mocha-Arcadia, and the wanton destruction of their means of livelihood, are antithetical to probity and worse.
It should also be noted that they were encouraged to establish themselves on those lands by the President himself, who in doing so promised that the construction of the road, which has been given the name ‘Hero’s` Highway’, adjacent to their properties, would have resulted in the appreciation of the value of their properties. To their dismay, their properties were demolished and livelihoods thrown into disarray, yet some aliens from Ghana, of all places, have decided to reward the President, notwithstanding his conduct, and that of his regime, which has been quite antithetical to probity. Those examples are but a tip of the iceberg, when it comes to the regime`s disrespect for the people of African descent, including their refusal to honour the constitutional provisions for the representatives of the people, including those of African descent, in particular, to be included in the decision-making processes at the national and local levels. The brethren from Ghana would be best advised to, themselves, embrace equity and probity and not repeat the ills of some of our ancestors, from that land, who sold our foreparents into slavery.
Sincerely,
Vincent Alexander