OUR HISTORY, OUR MARTYRS

TODAY, June 16, marks 71 years since five sugar workers – Rambarran, Lall a/k Pooran, Lallabagee, Surujbally and Harry – were killed by British colonial police. The Five are revered as the “Enmore Martyrs”.

It was amusing that a few days ago the opposition press castigated the Coalition Government for not observing Enmore Martyrs Day, on June 6 last (which it unashamedly but erroneously described as the Enmore Martyrs Day!) It mirrored the racist but false claim by this opposition that this government was “silencing” and betraying Indians.

RECOGNITION
I wish to remind these racists that in 1948 the Enmore Martyrs fought mainly for recognition of a union of their choice to better fight for them. It was a long and bitter struggle that ended three decades later, in recognition of GAWU as the bargaining agent of sugar workers.

It must have come as a betrayal of the Enmore Martyrs six decades later, under the Bharrat Jagdeo presidency, that the Guyana Sugar Corporation issued a threat to de-recognise the workers’ union for which the Enmore martyrs gave their lives. That was in 2010 when Mr. Donald Ramotar (later to become President) was a director of the sugar corporation.
It was also amusing and hypocritical to hear the opposition leader talking about jailing current government officials for financial crimes. But the biggest financial crime was committed under the post-Jagan regime, when the sugar industry was bankrupted, with a debt of some $85 billion. That must also come as a betrayal of the Enmore Martyrs as the livelihood of sugar workers was put in danger.

The former regime had promised to turn around the crippled industry, but instead turned it upside down! Jagdeo himself poured some $47 billion into the Skeldon factory, saying that sugar was dead without Skeldon. The factory became a “white elephant”.

FACTORY CLOSURE
He also resorted to factory closure, and gave bailout packages to Guysuco, to keep sugar workers for the PPP as a voting machine. The bailout was continued under the Coalition to ensure that the salaries were paid to sugar workers. It is estimated that some $50 billion was extracted from taxpayers to bail out the sugar industry. The closure of four estates was just one way out of the mess left by the Jagdeoites that resulted in some 10,000 sugar workers jobs being saved. Those made redundant were given severance pay, under provisions of the laws of Guyana. Many of them have since turned to sustainable self-employment, and some others redeployed to grinding estates.
Had the Enmore Martyrs been alive today, tears would flow from their eyes to know that a factory such as the so-called White Elephant in Skeldon was processing less sugar per ton of cane than the antiquated factory in its time. No amount of crocodile tears would today hide the callous betrayal of sugar workers and the destruction of the dreams of the Enmore Martyrs by the former Jagdeo-Ramotar Government.

SACRIFICES OF MARTYRS
The story of the Enmore Martyrs is part of the history that all Guyanese should remember, as we must know that we cannot let the sacrifices of our martyrs go in vain. All Guyanese ought to observe June 16 with sober reflection, that the re-birth of hope in Guyana came from struggles. We must salute our heroes, knowing that in their memory, Guyana is now poised to realize their dream of a better life for all.
Yesterday, another event of historic significance was taking place on the East Coast Demerara, where the Alliance for Change (AFC) held its 7th Biennial Conference. The PPP and other detractors had predicted with vulgar glee that the AFC would implode, that blood would flow on the conference floor, and that this young political force is “dead meat”.

PRIME MINISTERIAL CANDIDATE
Those mortal predictions were yesterday dashed. The AFC, a partner in the Coalition Government, democratically chose its new leaders and ventured into the future by identifying a prime ministerial candidate for upcoming elections. The AFC came out unified, but the intrepid “chatteratees” would find a new limb on which to hang their theories of doom, that is, that the AFC has dumped me as Prime Minister. They would celebrate in frenzy that ”Naga gone!”

But Naga has made his point, that he could humble the mighty, could bring down the corrupt, and lay the foundations for truly, multi-party, united and clean governance. When I joined the AFC in 2011 and hit the electoral campaign, we stripped the PPP for the first time since 1992 of its parliamentary majority. Then, in 2014, I tabled a motion of no-confidence in the corrupt PPP regime, which sent it into political frenzy, resulting in the regime proroguing, then dissolving parliament. Then, at the 2015 polls, the PPP was voted out of power. Naga was at the centre of the transition from authoritarianism to democracy, and was in the vanguard of those revolutionary changes! So, I could understand why the PPP would want to see my back!

ELDER STATESMAN
The AFC, it seemed, has decided to re-group, and to consolidate itself around the leaders who originally formed the party. I was honoured to have been admitted into the leadership of this young movement, and to have been baptized its Elder Statesman.
As in the past, I again did not run for political office, not even a place in the Executive Committee. I have had my unfair share of political infighting and intrigues during my 50 years in the PPP.
So, I did not stay around for the debate on the motion to identify a prime ministerial candidate for future elections. I did not want, in any way, to influence the outcome, as I felt that the party has a right to look ahead.

LOOKING FORWARD 
With the AFC Conference behind us, I guess that our detractors would be searching for some other stale and anticipated putrid political encounters about which to prattle. I am only sorry that yesterday’s AFC event did not generate the anticipated “dead meat” to feed the ravenous appetite of the political detractors, not even a tiny bone to feed a poodle.
But we must no longer be delayed or distracted by them. There is much work to be done, and we have to look forward, with optimism, to discharging the mandate that the Guyanese people gave to us in 2015, to deliver to them the good life.