Dear Editor,
As we observe another anniversary of the late great Dr. Cheddi Jagan, we must not forget his groundings in a working-class ideology. Dr Jagan wrote in his book “West on Trial” that when he saw the oppression of sugar workers, he dedicated his life to the upliftment of the working people. He never veered off track from such a belief. He not only talked the talk; he walked the talk. He was not a hypocrite!
If you visit the Jagan’s “Heritage” Home in Bel Air, which is now a historical site, you ask yourself how could two Presidents (Cheddi and Janet) have lived there so simply. That alone shows they did not get into Government or power asking “what can my country do for me?” (as is the ideology of all our politicians now), they asked “what can we do for our country?” The Jagans were always obsessed with the notion of helping the poor people, the working poor, the working-class, the dispossessed. The Jagans were for the little people, not forming alliances with the petty bourgeoisie and the oligarchic business and contractor classes for shared aggrandisement. Dr. Jagan always explained at meetings and in his writings how the system was rigged to oppress the working class who were left to eat the crumbs from the political masters’ tables. He called for a New Global Human Order.
Now, how do we get the party of Jagan to not lose its working-class groundings, if it has not already lost them? It is one thing to have annual meetings praising the work of Jagan then go back the next day to anti-Jagan practices. I have written that in my view, the lowest point of our current Government is that, under their watch, the NIS was allowed to appeal the Zainul Case where a poor carpenter was denied his NIS benefits although he had proof that he made enough contributions, while the NIS records were showing he did not. Was the Attorney-General’s office consulted about filing this appeal? Can the Government claim it’s not us who filed the appeal; it’s the NIS people who did it on their own? After Mr. Zainul lost appeals at the NIS Board level, he filed a lawsuit through Mr. Chistopher Ram and Associates. High Court Justice Damone Younge’s ruling for Mr. Zainul in the case roasted and toasted the NIS for its sloppy record keeping. The Judge essentially ruled that if NIS recordkeeping is sloppy, you can’t punish the worker. That’s an NIS/Government problem.
This poor man Zainul has waited 14 years for his ship to come in, and thanks to the NIS appeal of his case, he is getting larwah now, the same as for the past 14 years. The poor working-class man Mr. Zainul now relies on a generous monthly donation from Mr. Ram, for his sustenance. How did the Government expect this poor man to feed his family? What would Dr. Cheddi Jagan have done? My cousin has also been trying to get his benefits for the past 30 years. NIS is missing one year of his contributions. From telling him he never worked at Bermine, they said he has only 740 contributions, but one year’s contribution is missing. (Bermine was closed long ago). He asked the President for help and asked the Minister of Finance for help. The NIS General Manager refused to meet with him. There are hundreds of cases like these.
If it is true the AG’s Office has nothing to do with the Zainul appeal, and the PPP Government has nothing to do with filing the appeal, that it was solely the NIS, why is the Jaganite working-class Government comfortable with this? Why did it not stop the appeal? When our AG was going to appeal Justice Nigel Niles’ decision to award $24m to the Quindon Bacchus’ family for wrongful death, the President stopped it. (See “President stomps Nandlall’s plan to appeal $24M awarded to Quindon Bacchus’ family,” KN, Jan. 10, 2025). It was reported that “President Irfaan Ali has stopped Attorney General Anil Nandlall from appealing a court award of $24M for the slaying of Quindon Bacchus by a policeman over two years ago. Nandlall had recently argued that the court decision, which was handed down by Justice Nigel Niles, was flawed and that the government would be appealing it. However, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, speaking at his press conference on Thursday, said that once the President got wind of the plan, he asked the AG to stop. “The President was made aware of the ongoing efforts by the Attorney General’s Chambers and instructed that the appeal should not proceed. Instead, the compensation must be paid,” Jagdeo told reporters. This is a Government that has also filed appeals on the side of Exxon against the country’s interests.
We again call on the President to step in and stop the Zainul appeal. Pay pensions to Mr. Zainul, my cousin and those missing a few contributions due to inaccurate NIS records. Use part of the $10 billion allotted to NIS to fix these lingering problems of the working poor. Mr. President, do it in honour of Dr. Jagan, hero of the working-class!
Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Jailall
Civil Society Advocate
