T&T emancipation committee says gov’t TT$1m not enough

(Trinidad Express) The Emancipation Support Committee (ESC) has refused a TT$1 million cheque from the government for Emancipation celebrations as it was not enough.

Leader of the ESC, Khafra Kambon, yesterday said he and his committee were beyond disappointed and now angered by the lack of financial support again for Emancipation celebrations from Friday through August 1.

Speaking at a press conference at the Lidj Yasu Omowale Village at the Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain, an emotional Kambon said the festival, which has profound meaning, has been treated with disrespect along with the people of African descent.

Like he did last year, he repeated that the Emancipation commemoration be a budgeted item and all “systemic obstacles” that are in the way of the committee receiving funding be removed.

Kambon claimed the present government reneged on a promise to include funding for the Emancipation Day celebrations in the annual budget. When asked what was done by the group in light of this, Kambon said he had been clamouring for meetings and held one with former minister of multiculturalism Winston Peters but that meeting was seemingly a waste.

He added that maybe the group was not “making enough noise” and yesterday’s press conference was the beginning of a campaign to ensure they were not left out again.

Kambon said the Emancipation celebration was a national festival and as a result the State must fund it.

Kambon said this year’s production may cost a total of TT$7 million and he has refused to accept a TT$1 million cheque offered to the committee without a commitment that the sum was just a downpayment for a larger sum.

Last year, the celebrations cost TT$4 million, officials of the committee told the Express.

Asked whether the committee would consider commercialising the celebration, Kambon said: “We don’t see this as a good time, this is part of a programme of development. This is a system which our ancestors fought for. This is aimed at the African consciousness and to restore a sense of identity. … It is about changing the eternal mindset and we are not going to compromise that for the sake of money.”

Kambon added that whenever anything of an African nature was in need of assistance it was blanked from both the private and public sector in terms of funding. This, he described as an “inbuilt bias against the African” in the society, which then led to a knee-jerk reaction by stakeholders whenever the issue of money arose.

Asked why the committee didn’t seek to one day be self-sufficient, Kambon suggested another member present answer and education officer of the committee, Tracy Wilson, said the funding was reparation.

“It is interesting that every time we have a press conference this question comes up. We have worked for centuries to get other people rich. When we walked off the plantation it was other people who were compensated. Why it is that because we ask for what we believe is our due it becomes a problem? More importantly, we are an NGO (non-governmental organisation) that is responsible in helping organising the society,” Wilson said.

“We will not agree that we have to be self-sufficient to assist this government or any other in keeping the society. Perhaps tomorrow we too will seek to become as self-sufficient as we can, but not at the expense of raising the level of consciousness of our people so that they become better Africans and ultimately better nationals.

“We cannot have good Trinidadians until we have good Indians, good Syrians and good Africans. The problem is the only time there is an issue is when Africans or African-related organisations begin to talk about what we need for ourselves and the kind of assistance and support that we need,” Wilson added.

Wilson said the committee had sought funding and would continue to do so from other like-minded organisations across the world and no matter what, the Emancipation celebrations, with or without Government funding, would take place.