The government’s planned free event on Emancipation Day on the Malteenoes Sports Club ground in Georgetown has outraged the Opposition PNCR which contends that it will clash and compete with the traditional African-based event directly across in the National Park.
In a release on Tuesday, the PNCR pointed out that for the the last 31 years, the African Cultural & Development Association (ACDA) has organised the Emancipation Day event held in the National Park. As far as the Opposition is concerned, such a move “reeks of the PPP’s disregard for Afro-Guyanese in the land of their birth.” It also accused the government of seeking “to divide and dishonour the Afro-Guyanese community and to undermine its efforts at self-determination, self-expression, and self-organization.”
Further, the PNCR bemoaned the fact that this culturally-important event has now become the latest victim of the PPP’s “obsession to dominate, dictate, and control every space” in Guyana. In addition, it noted that “instead of using the country’s oil blessings to promote the dignity and prosperity of all Guyanese regardless of political affiliation, social status, and race and ethnicity, the PPP has opted instead to engage in the politics of division, deprivation, and dependency.”
The PNCR expressed the view that the PPP is being “foolhardy” in its belief that there is political gain in undermining or bypassing genuine Afro-Guyanese institutions and forms of self-expression, as well as believing there is political gain in “forcing several Afro-Guyanese into acts of servitude and self-humiliation so that they can receive what is rightfully theirs as citizens.” As such it expressed confidence that, as history has shown, the pride and dignity of people will eventually win out.
Responding to similar criticisms, Prime Minister Mark Phillips said in a letter in yesterday’s Stabroek News: “It is of paramount importance to understand that the government’s strategy does not involve the centralisation of cultural expression within a singular organisation, but rather aims to diversify support across a broad spectrum of entities.
“This approach, which might be misconstrued as fragmentation by persons seeking to perpetuate divisiveness, actually serves to ensure that the history and celebration of Emancipation resonate across various communities, thereby enriching the collective cultural identity of African-Guyanese people.
“The suggestion that the government should channel all resources through a single entity is both reductive and fails to appreciate the vibrant plurality and diversity inherent in African-Guyanese cultural expression”.
