Dear Editor,
The Ten Point Action Plan as presented by Caricom is grossly inadequate as reparation for slavery in Guyana and should be looked at again.
The plan is essentially a document for the benefit of Caricom governments, and has been prepared by them, without any input from the descendants of enslaved and manumitted Africans, their tribal leaders and heads of representative organizations. Consequently, the document has not catered for the uniqueness of the African descendants of Guyana.
The Descendants of Enslaved and Manumitted Africans Reparation Trust calls upon the African descendants to tentatively reject the Ten Point Action Plan and to demand that Caricom take the necessary action to allow for inputs to be made to it which would cater for the uniqueness of the Guyana situation that would more adequately address the concerns of descendants there and serve as a better basis for slavery reparations.
The experience in Guyana is unique in that the Africans purchased plantations after 1838, which were subsequently made into villages by the British colonial authority without their consent and without compensation.
Caricom’s Ten Point Action Plan should be expanded to accommodate the foregoing and other inputs from the descendants of enslaved Africans in Guyana.
This reparation process is the final opportunity for the descendants to place issues on the table for resolution, and we should take the opportunity to do so. The process will also close the door on reparations. Let us be careful and not be too ready to accept any offer as an appropriate remedy/reparation without careful analysis.
Yours faithfully,
Noah Yahshuarun
