The first of the thirty-two recommendations found in the 2012 Guyana Report on Aging (the Report) states that “Associations of Older Persons could help educate about the rights of the elderly and promote their active participation in the community activities”. The Report also states that the government has committed itself during the next five years to develop a national inter-sectoral plan for the elderly of the type recommended by the Madrid Action Plan (explained in this column a fortnight ago), to include older persons and their interest groups in that planning and to enact comprehensive legislation to enhance and protect the rights of the elderly.
Undoubtedly, given the non-inclusive nature of this regime, many persons will view these and the other government commitments in the Report as mere window-dressing intended to dupe the international community, and that government inaction will be facilitated by the lack of independent stakeholder associations in Guyana, which dearth was recognised in the Report and is in contrast to what exists in neighbouring Caribbean countries. In the first of the articles on this subject I argued that the existence of independent elderly associations driven by and accountable to their constituency is a sin qua non for the success
