Dear Editor,
The WPA’s Mr Tacuma Ogunseye writing in the media on 05-23-202s6 titled “If our independence is to have real meaning it must address the historical injustices of all races in Guyana.” Mr Ogunseye, as usual, never fails to stoke the fires of race relations in our country. Mr Ogunseye blames the PPP/C and Indo-Guyanese for all the ills Africans have suffered in Guyana. How come Mr Ogunseye keeps ignoring the fact that it was slavery that denuded the African all of his tribal freedoms inclusive of his culture? Has the WPA’s Mr Ogunseye forgotten that African tribal chiefs sold their tribal captives into slavery to Europeans?
Why doesn’t Mr Ogunseye explain why the economic condition of the Afro-Guyanese was further diminished by the 28 years of PNC misrule (1964-1992) when food was rationed with long lines and hunger stalked the land of rivers and plains of our dear land of Guyana. For 5 additional years between 2015-2020 the Indo-Guyanese was the target when the WPA’s Dr Clive Thomas of GuySuCo by PNC policy approval fired 7,000 predominantly Indian sugar workers debunking the notion of equality of the races.
How far and sadly has the WPA fallen from the race inclusion policy of the popular Dr Walter Rodney? The facts are that the WPA has been completely vanquished since the assassination of the legendary historian. Yet the few skeletons of the WPA continue to preach and issue race in all their missives as if there is nothing else more redeeming.
Mr Ogunseye wants shared governance as if that will solve all the forever problems of the African. Wasn’t the cooperative supposed to solve the economic problems of African Guyanese? Why has the policy of cooperative redemption failed in Guyana?
History has recorded that the PNC…the party of the majority of Africans at that time…discriminated against Indo-Guyanese by filling state jobs with its predominantly African supporters. This completely destroyed the cottage industry of the village African. Most of the African artisans in woodworking, joinery and blacksmithing were eradicated from Afro-Guyanese villages.
I still remember fondly our set of Berbice chairs were all built by an artisan from Buxton in the early 1960s. Hardly any artisans remain in Buxton up to this day!
The Indo-Guyanese was forced to go into business and do habitual agriculture for economic survival. They grew rice, provisions and vegetables. The leftover Indo-Guyanese educated class was forced to migrate. The Indians did not have state handouts but survived by hard backbreaking hard work.
History has recorded that Indo-Guyanese became the best workers for the sugar industry after slavery was abolished. They kept the sugar industry alive. The Chinese and Portuguese indentured servants drifted away from the plantations.
In fact, the 1964-1992 PNC inserted Africans into the top tier management of GuySuCo when they had no affiliation or experiences with sugar. No attention to servicing and maintenance of the sugar industry by the mismatched new elite occurred. Today’s fiasco in GuySuCo stems from PNC negligence and explains the decline of the sugar industry. Climate change is another culprit as is bad management.
Mr Ogunseye writes that “if our independence is to have real meaning, it must address the historical injustices inflicted on all races in Guyana and confront the enduring consequences of slavery and colonialism, with priority to the Indigenous and African communities, which have been the most affected.”
Mr Ogunseye obviously wants equality for the historical injustices inflicted on all by colonialism and slavery. That is a fair expectation. Mr Ogunseye however wants priority for Afro-Guyanese. How can you have equality for all races by Mr Ogunseye’s own advocacy when priority for only Africans has been his lifelong advocacy and mission which has now become the motto of the once upon a time multiracial WPA?
It was the PNC which completely destroyed the PPP’s 1964 racial balancing of the armed forces Special Service Unit (SSU) by pouring the predominantly Afro-Guyanese British Guiana Volunteer Force into the GDF in 1965!
Dear Editor, undoubtedly all races suffered in the history of Guyana. But not all Africans are guilty. There are numerous Africans who are caring as there are Indians who are too. However less is written about the PNC’s active involvement in racial animosity in the 1960s when they were active conspirators with Anglo-US forces in destabilising the 1960s PPP Government is better left untold but yet history still tells all its sordid truths. However, nothing will whitewash the heinousness of Guyanese history especially since the Wismar Massacre of 1964 witnessed some 3000 Indo-Guyanese being subjected to ethnic cleansing. This subject is now topical with the publication of Dr Baytoram Ramaharack’s new book “The Wismar Massacre”.
By these facts Mr Ogunseye will have to explain why one race must have priority over others especially when he makes preposterous accusations of Guyana being a racist apartheid state!
Mr Ogunseye wants to be imbued with the sharing of power but what does the WPA bring to the table? Nothing except calabash demands. What will solve Guyana’s problems is to provide the African and others with the power to chart their own destiny.
The proposal for Federalism is still on the table. This will allow the Afro-Guyanese and others all the power to manage themselves. The WPA must make their decision very clear on this issue. In conclusion the results of the 2025 elections which found the PNC with 12 seats and WIN with 16 seats completely shows neither the PNC and Mr Ogunseye’s WPA convincingly speaks for Afro-Guyanese.
The destiny to mould Guyana has taken on a new course