“It is a very hard thing for European governments which enslaved Africans for over three and half centuries to apologize. They have apologized to the Jews for the Holocaust, Britain has even apologized to the Mau Maus (of Kenya) for torture but this is a hard thing and the Caribbean governments are insisting on an apology because a crime was committed and they must say they are sorry.”
President David Granger made this declaration yesterday while addressing the fourth annual forum on the State of the African Guyanese at the Critchlow Labour College. The forum convened by the Cuffy250 Movement was held under the theme African Guyanese Self Realization: Challenges for the next 50 years.
President Granger delivering the keynote address for the second year in a row called for the African Guyanese community to formulate a plan of action so as to maximize on the opportunity provided by the International Decade for People of African Descent.
According to the United Nations the International Decade for People of African Descent, proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 68/237 and to be observed from 2015 to 2024, provides a solid framework for the United Nations, Member States, civil society and all other relevant actors to join together with people of African descent and take effective measures for the implementation of the programme of activities in the spirit of recognition, justice and development.
“Guyana has an obligation to take action in accordance with the declaration,” Granger told the forum explaining that his government fully supports the programme of activities of the CARICOM Reparation Commission which includes a demand for reparation for people of African descent and indigenous people.
He noted that he will commit his government to five of the areas identified in the CARICOM 10-point plan for reparatory Justice. These include an apology and compensation from Europe for the inhumane and criminal act of the slavery, provision of education, the promotion of equality and an end to discrimination as well as the provision of jobs through a resurrection of the village economy and its attendant entrepreneurial spirit.
The Head of State stressed that while Guyana’s government will continue to advocate for reparations for the international crime of slavery and work with Caribbean governments and NGOs to represent people of African descent, there needs to be national organisation and a national action plan in order to ensure the implementation of the regional programme.
“We mustn’t sleepwalk into the future without understanding that we have to follow a plan,” the Head of State stressed adding that 20 months have passed leaving only a 100 months for this decade.
“We asked for a year after which we found that objectives were not met so we asked for a decade. We cannot go and ask for a century,” he reminded before stating that while he will not ask for a measure of the accomplishments so far he will note that the forum represents a peak time to organise and mobilise rather than agonise interminably about the condition in which we find ourselves as a nation.
Acknowledging that Guyana’s patrimony belongs to all its citizens, Granger said that people of African descent have in the past been victims of discrimination.
“There is evidence that there was discrimination. We must now correct that situation because discrimination against anyone promotes insecurity and social exclusion and that can lead to disorder,” he said adding that consequently the Plan of Action must give the assurance that no group or community would have difficulty accessing public services.
“People of African Descent must be assured that they will not be discriminated against and hindered in accessing public services including housing, education, public health and utilities and most important their land rights,” he said before reiterating his government’s commitment “to establish a Lands Commission to rectify the anomalies and resolve the controversies which still surround thousands of hectares of communal lands that were purchased with hard cash in the post emancipation village movement.”
