|
|
|
|
Government reaches out to Buxton farmers
- more D&I works, more farmlands, more compensation in the offing
FARMERS affected by the Joint Services clearing exercise aback the East Demerara community of Buxton and who were compensated in the initial phase of the programme will be further compensated as the clearing exercise is still progress.
This was told to Buxton residents yesterday by Agriculture Minister, Mr. Robert Persaud, during a visit to the backlands area to meet with the scores of farmers who have farmsteads there and to update them on other agricultural interventions the government has planned for the area such as drainage and irrigation enhancement and the provision of seed and planting materials.
During the course of the discussions, which were held in the Pond Dam area of the backlands where the clearing and drainage works are being done, farmers learnt that Agriculture Ministry officials and representatives of the farmers’ committee will meet in the area tomorrow to sort out the second phase of the verification exercise as part of the extended compensation process for those affected by the de-bushing activity. Only about four dozen farmers are directly affected by the Joint Services-led land clearing exercise as part of Operation Restore Order following the Lusignan and Bartica massacres.
One of the major drainage and irrigation projects to be implemented shortly is the de-silting of the pump basin facing the Atlantic Ocean, an exercise which costs in the vicinity of $16M, so as to allow the sluices and pumps in the area to function more efficiently. It was pointed out that because of the criminal take-over of the community, the Ministry and other agencies were hard-pressed to implement major development projects such as drainage and irrigation. This notwithstanding, the excavator currently being used by the Joint Services will be deployed shortly to clean the two middle-walk canals so as to assist farmers ahead of the rainy season.
As Minister Persaud pointed out, given the nature of the Joint Services operations, there are two components to the exercise, this being security and agriculture, as drainage and irrigation systems are being restored after years of disuse, and access dams, once out of bounds to farmers, are being cleared.
He said that once the security operation is completed there will be a total assessment of the drainage and irrigation needs and further interventions may be contemplated by the government as long as farmers are interested in going back to those lands they had long abandoned.
have started a programme with the NDC (Neighbourhood Democratic Council) and that programme is still in progress…the engineers were here and they have done verification and much more will be done as we proceed,” Minister Persaud said, adding that seed materials will be provided to farmers who have land within their homesteads to improve their income.
Farmers expressed general satisfaction with efforts being made to assist them and thanked the Minister and the other officials with him for meeting with them.
Among those accompanying the minister were Region Four Chairman, Mr. Clement Corlette, members of the Joint Services; Trade Consultant, Mr. Dyer Alberto, NDIA CEO Mr. Lionel Wordworth and other officials of the Agriculture Ministry.
Responding to a suggestion from the Regional Chairman that a time line should be given as to when the clearing exercise would be completed, Minister Persaud said: “The ongoing operation of the Joint Services in clearing the land does not have a time line. The clearing of the lands is based on how fast the Joint Services are able to conduct their activities which are sometimes affected by the weather or the malfunctioning of equipment.”
Major Gary Beaton of the Guyana Defence Force, who is in charge of the clearing exercise, assured farmers that all the debris left behind would be collected and burnt to allow for easy cultivation of the land.
On February 4, following a decision by the Office of the President, the Joint Services commenced an operation to clear the backlands on the lower East Coast.
This area, which has dense vegetation, has been used by criminals as hideouts to evade police pursuit. Many of the farmlands have been abandoned. The operation entails the removal of all vegetation in the identified areas aback villages on the East Coast which will provide a clear line-of-vision for villagers and the Security Forces.
Yesterday’s visit was the second made by the Minister since the start of the clearing operation, and was meant to ensure that farmers continue to get the required support from the government as efforts are being made by the Joint Services to return the village to normalcy as they rid the area of criminals. (GINA)
Market vendors scour for water
- as impasse between City Hall and GWI smolders
By George Barclay and Neil Marks
AT closing time yesterday, Bourda Market fish vendor Chandrowtie estimated she had paid out some $300 to ‘junkies’ to fetch water for her – a clear sign that the raging tension between City Hall and the water company has far from subsided.
Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) Friday moved to disconnect water at all municipal properties over City Hall’s unpaid bill of $87M, and up to late yesterday water had not been restored despite a court order.
City hall had moved to the courts to get GWI to reopen the water connections, but Chandrowtie was done for the day yesterday without a drop from the nearby tap. Where did she get her water from?
“I pay the ‘junkie’ $60 a bucket to bring it. Me ain’t know where they get it from,” she told the Guyana Chronicle.
It appears that the ‘junkies’ - street men looking for a quick job - broke one of the nearby water lines and were getting in on a handsome day’s work. A little further up the market at the meat section, one vendor said it never occurred to her to find out where the water was coming from; all she knows and cared was that she paid the ‘junkies’ and it was delivered.
Down at the Stabroek Market, the situation was pretty much the same. The vendors were paying for the water and getting it delivered by ‘junkies’ and were clearly not interested in the source.
The fish and meat sections in the city’s markets are the hardest hit in what has become a heated tussle between the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) and GWI.
The M&CC had filed an ex parte application in the High Court after the GWI disconnected the water supply, claiming arrears of $87 million.
Justice Winston Patterson, who heard the matter in Chambers on Friday, had ordered GWI to ensure the uninterrupted supply of water to all M&CC properties, including City Hall’s compound at Avenue of the Republic, the Municipal Abattoir on Water Street, and the Bourda and Stabroek municipal markets.
The judge granted an injunction restraining GWI from interfering with, or disconnecting, the water supply of any of the properties under control of the M&CC.
Justice Patterson also ruled that GWI is to continue negotiations with the M&CC in order to resolve the matter, and ordered that GWI be present at the next hearing on May 27.
Bourda Market early yesterday morning was the scene of a mad scramble for water, with some vendors and stallholders going as far as two blocks away to fetch some.
Efforts to contact GWI to ascertain its compliance with the court order to restore water proved futile.
GWI chief executive, Mr. Karan Singh, on Friday, said the water will not flow until City Hall stumps up its outstanding dues.
“We are not the godfathers to provide free water,” Singh asserted, saying GWI runs a business, and that it is only fair that customers pay for the service used.
“For far too long, people have gotten away without paying for it and so we recognise that in GWI and the former Georgetown Sewerage and Water Commission (GS&WC), too many lapses have occurred in collecting revenue, in particular from the M&CC,” Singh remarked.
GWI has $4 billion in outstanding arrears countrywide and it is going after everyone who owes the company.
“And I do not see anything wrong with us putting some order in collecting our monies that are due to us for a long time,” Singh added.
GWI has been faced with mounting bills to meet its own expenditure, with the government pumping some $2B into the utility last year alone.
President Bharrat Jagdeo, at a press conference last week, said that had the utility not been bailed out by the government, it could have been forced to increase water tariffs.
Bell 412 Army chopper back in action
THE Bell 412 helicopter belonging to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) which went down in the Tacama savannahs, in Berbice some 18 months ago has been repaired and was yesterday flown to the Army’s Air Corps base at Timehri.
Army Chief-of-Staff, Commodore Gary Best, said the aircraft was repaired by skilled engineers on staff.
Major Michael Charles who flew the chopper said it was fitted with a new engine which was flown in to Tacama last Tuesday. With three days, he said, it was ready to take its first test-run before being flown to Timehri.
Commodore Best said the future of the aircraft now rests with the Defence Board.
Hamson’s owner still counting his losses
CITY businessman Farouk Gania, whose Hamson’s General Store on Regent Street was gutted Friday night, was yesterday counting his losses, estimated to run into millions.
Reported to have started around 22:00h, the fire quickly spread and raged out of control despite the valiant efforts of firemen to contain it. The problem, as usual, was low water pressure.
Still visibly shaken by the experience, Gania told the Chronicle that he’s not sure of his next move until he hears from his insurance company. And neither can he say with any certainty how much the fire has cost him but he rather suspects that his losses will be quite substantial.
Up to 11:30h yesterday, firemen were still working on putting out the blaze, which was still smoldering in places, but as the day wore on, several workers could be seen hard at work trying to remove the debris from the scene.
Hamson’s was your typical hardware store and among items it sold were building materials, electrical appliances, and pipes and fittings. (Sarada Singh)
Global food crisis:
Rich countries beginning to feel effects
VERY few countries around the world, including the rich, have been able to escape the merciless impact of skyrocketing food prices fuelled by soaring oil prices – a record US$117/barrel, rising demand for food, bio-fuel production and unpredictable weather patterns due to climate change.
Although the full ramification of this new crisis is clearly evident in the developing world -- the World Food Programme has appealed for an extra US$800M to feed an additional 73 million of the world’s poor -- rich countries, such as the United States, are beginning to feel the brunt of rising food prices.
A recent report on CNN news indicated that the two largest U.S. warehouse retail chains are limiting the quantity of rice customers can buy because of what Sam's Club, a division of Wal-Mart Stores Incorporated called on Wednesday "recent supply and demand trends."
Sam's Club followed Seattle-based Costco Wholesale Corporation, which put limits in at least some stores on bulk rice purchases. Sam's Club said it will limit customers to four bags at a time of imported jasmine, basmati and long grain white rice.
The Financial Times reports that millions of poor Americans risk going hungry if food prices continue to rise. Poor people in the U.S. are turning to charity and government assistance as they struggle with rising food costs and soaring fuel bills.
The Congressional Budget Office forecast the number of Americans on food stamps would next year reach 28 million, the highest number since the programme began more than 40 years ago.
In the United Kingdom, wholesale prices of food have increased by 7.4 per cent over the past 12 months, roughly three times the headline rate of inflation. According to government statistics, grocery bills have gone up by an average of £750 over the same period, the equivalent of a 12 percent rise.
In Australia, the Deniliquin mill, the largest rice mill in the Southern Hemisphere, once processed enough grain to satisfy the daily needs of 20 million people. But six long years of drought have taken a toll, reducing Australia's rice crop by 98 percent.
The collapse of Australia's rice production is one of several factors contributing to a doubling of rice prices in the last three months — increases that have led the world's largest exporters to restrict exports severely, spurred panicked hoarding in Hong Kong and the Philippines, and set off violent protests in countries including Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Italy, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, the Philippines, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
Officials in the Philippines have warned that people hoarding rice could face economic sabotage charges, while other countries, such as Vietnam, have restricted the export of rice.
In the Caribbean, several governments have announced further increases in the price for rice, flour and other basic food supplies.
In Haiti, the most severely hit country in this region; the poor have resorted to eating biscuits made of mud.
Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank, recently indicated that many more people will suffer and starve unless the U.S., Europe, Japan and other rich countries provide funds. He said prices of all staple food had risen 80% in three years, and that 33 countries faced unrest because of the price rises.
Guyana’s ability to produce more food than the nation consumes and government’s proactive approach in addressing rising food prices have resulted in several initiatives being taken. These include the Grow More campaign, the removal of the Value Added Tax on all food items, non-restriction on importation of flour, reduction of Excise Tax on gasoline, removal of taxation on kerosene and cooking gas, offsetting water and electricity costs, strict monitoring of rice exports, conducting countrywide rice sales, and the establishment of a Ministerial Task Force on food.
While these measures will not eliminate the effects of rising food prices, they have served to cushion its impact, thereby allowing for food to be available to all Guyanese at an affordable price, and at a price that is significantly below the retail prices for basic food items in the Caribbean and many parts of the world (A GMC Release).
|
|
|
D’Urban Park Lions host the elderly
MEMBERS of The Lions Club of D’Urban Park had their hands full last Saturday as they flitted between tables making sure that each of their charges had had their fill and that they were all having a jolly good time.
The occasion was the organisation’s annual Senior Citizens’ Party at the Girl Guides Pavilion at the corner of Brickdam and Vlissengen Road which saw them host a lot more than the close to 150 persons they’d initially catered for from churches and senior citizens homes within their service area. The area at reference is bounded by Hadfield Street on the north; Vlissengen Road to the west, and North and South Ruimveldt to the east and south respectively.
Besides food and drink, the old folks were also treated to a spot of live entertainment from local comedians Linden ‘Jumbie’ Jones and his partner, Kirk Jardine, with whom they traded jokes, and the Guyana Prison Service’s steel-band.
Each was also given a hamper with approximately $5 000 worth of food. They all were safely transported back home or to their points of assembly before sundown.
Surama chosen to film Riocochet’s TV series “unbreakable”
THE indigenous tourism community, Surama has been chosen by Ricochet, Britain’s leading independent television company as one of the locations for the filming of an adventure reality based survivor type contest and TV series titled “Unbreakable” said the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA).
According to a release, the 20 member team comprising of 12 film crew and eight contestants arrived in Guyana on Saturday and the production shoot will begin next Tuesday.
The press statement explained that the contest is about survival in the great outdoors and wilderness and contestants will undergo a series of grueling tasks to test their survival skills and endurance.
“The contestants, both male and female will have to endure a series of challenges from wrestling with anacondas, biting off the heads of live piranhas to ensuring the traditional Makushi stick beating ritual,” the release disclosed.
The series will also be filmed in Africa and Europe.
It noted: “This adventure docu-series will provide destination Guyana with much needed positive publicity and will help to create more awareness of and raise the profile and image of unspoilt, untouched and undiscovered Guyana. The series will also help to promote, brand and share with the world our indigenous Makushi culture and tradition, our eco tourism product, community based tourism, the remote village of Surama, our flora and fauna, wildlife, etc”.
The indigenous community will benefit from the construction of three thatched bush camps, two toilets, two dug out canoes, two aluminum boats with engines, a generator, a laptop computer among other equipment, the statement underlined.
In addition, it said, over 20 persons from the village will be employed and community members will be prominently featured during the five day shoot.
Previous big screen motion pictures that were filmed here include White Diamond, Guiana 1838, BBC’s Extreme Dream and a National Geographic documentary on the otters, scaling Mount Roraima.
|
|
|
Carifesta X---full speed ahead
WITH LAST Wednesday evening's spectacular official launch at Cenotaph Square of arrangements for Guyana's hosting of the 10th Carifesta, all systems are now in readiness to push ahead for what promises to be a most exciting and rewarding "homecoming" for this premier regional cultural event, first inaugurated in this nation 36 years ago.
The politicking of the main opposition PNCR had, as expected, NO impact on the well-organised launch of Carifesta X. The members of the standing Regional Cultural Council (RCC) who witnessed the event, following their 19th Meeting earlier in the day at the Community Secretariat, would have been quite encouraged and inspired for the staging of a very successful 11-day Festival from August 22-31.
Assistant Secretary General for Foreign and Community Relations, ambassador Colin Granderson, in addressing the ceremonial opening, said: "We are quite pleased that the Guyana Government offered to host Carifesta X and for taking on the mammoth task of organizing the Festival in just one year...
"I take this opportunity to wish Guyana, as host country, every success as it prepares for Carifesta X, and to pledge the continued support of the CARICOM Secretariat...This evening we rejoice in our 'one-ness' in keeping with the theme of this launch ('One Caribbean, One Purpose--Our Culture, Our Life")..."
The Community's Assistant Secretary General for Human and Social Development, Edward Greene, had earlier told the RCC meeting on preparations for the Festival: "We can all view this as the 'homecoming' for Carifesta, returning after some 36 years, to its birthplace. We expect Carifesta X to be no less inspirational and enjoyable as the first Carifesta, of which event many among us have fond memories..."
For his part, President Bharrat Jagdeo, who had committed Guyana to hosting the Festival after The Bahamas regretted its failure in 2007 to proceed with arrangements, gave the firm assurance, when he addressed the audience of thousands at the launching ceremony, that Guyana "is a safe place for Carifesta" and his administration was resolved to "leave no stone unturned" in ensuring a safe and secure" environment..."
It may have been the Head of State's way of reminding those in our midst who seek to engage in cheap, divisive politicking, that the resources and commitment required to stage a successful Carifesta in August, offers Guyana "the opportunity", as he said, "of transcending those things that can blind, limit and divide us as a people, as nations of One Region.."
Therefore, for the leader of the PNCR, Robert Corbin, to chase after cheap publicity with his anti-government marches under the pretence of fighting for press freedom, as he threatens to disrupt arrangements for Carifesta X, is a sick joke. It is one that reveals the intellectual bankruptcy of that party from which so many of its better known officials and activists felt compelled to walk away with the outcome of its last congress.
For all the political opportunism associated with the politics of Forbes Burnham, the late PNC leader who hosted the First Carifesta, must be turning in his grave at the sight of Robert Corbin exploiting the suspension of CNS Channel 6 licence to create uncertainties about arrangements for Carifesta X.
The PNCR leader seems to be deluding himself by his current excitement with self-serving organised marches. Is he aware of the extent of nation-wide involvement in the arrangements for this great cultural extravaganza? Also, of the disappointment and hurt that could come to the talented, creative and committed Guyanese--not to mention their cousins in other Caribbean states--eagerly looking forward to the Festival?
The Festival is on track and, we have no doubt, it will so remain as hands are joined across this nation and across the seas with Caribbean governments, brothers and sisters to make August 2008 the memorable occasion it WILL prove to be---36 years after it first took place in Guyana.
|
|
|
|
CARICOM'S CHALLENGE IN FOOD CRISIS
Jamaica/Guyana rice spat
By Rickey Singh
THE CURRENT spat between Jamaica and Guyana over rice shipments to this country, consistent with a prevailing agreement, is yet another indication of problems being thrown up by a widening food crisis that is now a world-wide challenge.
Claims by Jamaican importers and distributors about Guyana's default on pledged export commitment has been firmly denied by Guyanese exporters. The matter has also led to an assurance by the Bharrat Jagdeo administration that "all efforts will be made" to ensure that no CARICOM partner is affected by bilateral private sector arrangements covering quantity, quality and pricing.
An aggravating factor which has developed is the warning from the Bruce Golding administration to officially seek an urgent waiver of CARICOM's Common External Tariff (CET) to permit importation of rice to satisfy local demands.
There lies the rub. A waiver of the CET can only be approved if it has been clearly established that the exporting member state is not in a position to honour its commitment as agreed.
Jamaica importers would be aware how this position has been reaffirmed and sustained in the face of repeated efforts in the past by Trinidad and Tobago to annually seek a CET waiver that could facilitate importation of parboiled rice from extra-regional sources and at more favourable prices.
For the CET to be suspended expediently will render it ineffective as an instrument to protect regional production and marketing of commodities. Rice is one such commodity, whether the exporter is Guyana or Suriname, that can hardly be expected to compete against heavily subsided rice coming into this region from foreign markets, for example, the USA.
The attention being paid to careful management of the letter and spirit of the CET, as protected by the CARICOM treaty, was well highlighted by last year's special meeting in Guyana of the Community's Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) when some adjustments to the CET were considered for extra-regional imports to help cushion rising prices on consumer goods impacting on the general cost of living.
It is perhaps symptomatic of the problems we face in CARICOM that, instead of focusing on macro-economic challenges, there is this tendency to quickly adjust or dismantle mechanisms as short-term responses without any clear indication of initiatives to follow for long-term gains
Only recently, for instance, has there emerged some fresh talking about an old idea--namely a regional food production and marketing plan. Of course, as some may well recall, a much-mooted Caribbean Food Corporation (CFC) collapsed within a few years of existence in the decade of the 80s for lack of sustained commitment and proper management.
Familiar scenario
Now, at a time of the international food crisis, CARICOM governments , for too long heavily dependent on food imports, to the detriment of local/regional food production, are wringing hands as they make familiar complaints and suggestions amid rising tension over skyrocketing cost of living: Jamaica's own problem with rice imports from Guyana has to be viewed in this context
CARICOM, currently in its 35th year of existence, has never been short of good ideas to cope with social and economic challenges resulting from international developments. What it continues to suffer from is an outstanding deficit in its delivery capacity to move ideas/recommendations from the drawing board into positive action.
That's why, from the visionary presentation by the late Prime Minister Eric Williams on "oil and food" back in 1975, to the current "Jagdeo Initiative", named after Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo, on regional agriculture expansion and transformation, failures to promote decisive change continue to spawn region-wide cynicism in the absence of concrete action to make a reality of the plethora of ideas and recommendations from endless Heads of Government and ministerial meetings.
Interestingly, when Dr Williams offered his ideas on dealing with a then looming food crisis in 1975--it was also a time of international concerns over rising fuel prices. His imagination had linked Trinidad and Tobago's oil and natural gas resources to a policy for regional expansion and diversification of agricultural development to ensure food security.
Food production he felt should be approached as a basic industry to be run on "commercial lines by a corporation collectively owned by the governments of the area and making approved investments in the different territories...."
Six years later, the report of a group of experts on "The Caribbean Community--In the 1980s", headed by William Demas, noted that the region had become during the decade of the 70s, a net importer of food and agricultural products".
It welcomed CARICOM's response to adopt a Regional Food Plan and the establishment of a Caribbean Food Corporation (CFC) to assist in implementing the Plan.
Current realities
Well, the CFC has long ceased to exist since it lacked the active support of the governments to have it function as a business-oriented organisation with proven technical and business experience to complement and supplement private sector involvement in agricultural production and marketing. No government talks today about the CFC.
Some of the current crop of Community leaders and agriculture ministers may need to familiarise themselves with the circumstances that led to its creation and subsequent demise, amid all the fresh talk about "grow more food; eat what we produce" when, that is, they are not rowing among themselves over adjustments to CARICOM's Common External Tariff (CET) to facilitate on an ad hoc basis, competitive imports of consumer commodities from extra-regional exporters.
In Trinidad and Tobago, where in the post-Eric Williams' era agriculture development fell victim to a more concentrated emphasis on the energy sector, the Patrick Manning administration is currently in a frenzy to raise hopes for a "new day" for food production".
He is doing so with mixed signals about "having the situation under control". Under control? Does ANY of our Community have the "food crisis" under control, including Guyana and Belize, identified in the "Group of Experts Report on CARICOM in the 1980s" as the potential "bread baskets" of CARICOM?
On the other hand, while the government of Prime Minister Golding is lamenting the fact that Jamaica's food imports were "out of control"--a problem for most CARICOM states--in Guyana the Jagdeo government is expressing disappointment of a different order:
It has to do, as Jagdeo said, with the failure by fellow Heads of Government to go beyond "mere expressions of interest" in taking up his offer for cooperation in utilising the country's vast land resources for a significant boost for food production to meet regional needs as well as for competitive extra-regional exports. The CARICOM food imports bill is currently estimated at US$3 Billion.
In fairness, Prime Minister Manning has been more forthcoming in the interest shown so far by CARICOM leaders in a land-for-food project with Guyana. Nor is it clear about what extent President Jagdeo himself has sufficiently fleshed out his land-for-food idea as a regional project.
Major funding would be involved for such a project and most likely will feature among projects envisaged for the forthcoming CARICOM Agriculture Investment Forum scheduled to take place in Guyana from June 9-10.
A preparatory forum for the coming June event was held in Guyana just over a week ago, as arranged by the Community Secretariat. It will require a high level of public/private sector partnership with commitments linked also to pledges made at an international aid donor conference in June last year in Port-of-Spain.
PERSPECTIVES
Where is Marginalization?
Part 4 – A Rejoinder
By Prem Misir
LET me say for the umpteenth time that our findings on marginalization focused on only one type of marginalization, social marginalization; and social marginalization has to do with examining the levels of ethnic participation in the occupational structure.
And in multiethnic societies, knowing the ethnic demographics is a prerequisite for appropriate policy formulation and good governance. Policies have to touch the lives of all of a country’s citizens, and no citizen should be left behind. And so knowing the status of various ethnic groups, especially in the occupational structure, would facilitate better planning and execution of effective programs for the good of all Guyanese.
Over the past few weeks, I have been presenting findings addressing the ethnic distribution of participation in the public service. These findings have generated a huge response; but there was one personal attack from Rickford Burke of the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy in New York City. But I take whatever comes in good stead, as all this goes with the terrain whether you are in academia or in some other public sphere.
|
And how about if our findings on ethnic distribution had shown that Africans are not marginalized, would the critics then say that this ethnic distribution is meaningless? Then if by chance, these findings do show that Africans are marginalized, then these findings would have received great accolades. And so this is the nature of the beast that permeates the critics’ responses to our findings on marginalization.
|
|
|
|
I, however, would advise the Burkes of this world that personal attacks merely bring very superfluous, phony short-term gains, but have no sustainable capacity. Our findings are very significant for policy-making measures where we must continue to push for a better quality of life for all Guyanese.
And how about if our findings on ethnic distribution had shown that Africans are not marginalized; would the critics then say that this ethnic distribution is meaningless? Then if by chance, these findings do show that Africans are marginalized, then these findings would have received great accolades. And so this is the nature of the beast that permeates the critics’ responses to our findings on marginalization.
The crime I seemingly may have committed, in the critics’ eyes, is to release findings on the ethnic distribution of participation in the public service, and which is part of a larger study since 2002; and these findings show that many Africans are well-placed occupationally. These findings also are true of Indians, Amerindians, Mixed, and Others. However, all the responses have focused only on Africans.
However, I did not measure whether or not these well-placed Africans are tokens, are micromanaged, or are controlled by other people; and so I cannot say that they are micromanaged, or controlled. But what I can say is that they occupy senior positions. At any rate, telling a senior African manager who is not a token that he/she is a token, may very well be an insult to that person’s intelligence.
But the critics all seem to conclude that well-placed Africans are marginalized, in that they are micromanaged, are tokens, or controlled by other people. Well, these critics would have to provide evidence that Africans in senior positions really are tokens, or controlled by others; this they have not done; capricious examples will not do. What yardsticks or what measures the critics apply to determine their conclusion that Africans are marginalized, or that Africans are in office and not in power. At least, I have presented evidence on the ethnic distribution of participation in the public service.
The critics need to understand, too, that we are presenting findings on only one type of marginalization, social marginalization; and social marginalization has to do with examining the levels of participation in the occupational structure.
Some critics seem confused about the distinction between marginalization and discrimination; they are not the same. And it is common knowledge that in a multiethnic society wherever marginalization prevails, it tends to touch all ethnic groups.
Again the critics seem confused about risk factors for marginalization and marginalization itself. Significant risk factors for marginalization include poverty, unemployment, sickness, physical disability. But risk factors are not forms of marginalization and their presence should not be equated with marginalization. In fact, experiencing social or/economic disadvantage is not necessarily marginalization.
Marginalization is a process, not a condition; and so the individual can experience marginalization in some parts of the life cycle and not in other parts.
This means that it may be hard to differentiate between voluntary and involuntary marginalization; cases may exist where an individual makes a voluntary choice that may involuntarily produce marginalization; or where an individual makes progressive adaptations to his marginalized status and sees the experience as acceptable.
Marginalization involves exclusion from participation in some areas of society. It is important to note that marginalization in one area of social life does not necessarily produce marginalization in others. Simmel, a German Sociologist, explains that marginalization is incomplete participation.
Rickford Burke’s Dangerous Path of Perception
Real Data Fail to Support Marginalization
By Dr Tara Singh
IN politics in particular, “perception” is even more powerful than reality. Some critics like Rickford Burke who readily embrace perception and racism have also shown a penchant to unleash them with reckless abandon. Neither caring for authenticity nor the rigors of sound scholarship, and ready to trample on morality, people like Burke operate in a world of illusion, but not without moving aggressively to sway others into their concocted realm of distortions and innuendos. While established science and religion have “truth” as their core principle, that is anathema to them. Accepting the truth will not only mean a massive transformation, but also, lead to the crumbling of their beloved fate of racism.
It’s the pursuit of truth that will eventually set us free; no matter how great may be our temporary advantage. Radical perceptionists aim to keep us in darkness, a situation where the blind leads the blind. They continue to bombard us with distortions. And if we are weak, we buckle under their relentless pressure. If we are strong enough, their mission collapses. And how do we become strong? By seeking the truth! The IT (information technology) revolution has endowed us with an infrastructure capable of enhancing our knowledge and wisdom that can eventually tear down the walls of darkness, and erect instead, a fortress of enlightenment. In this way, we can bring their misguided journey to a halt.
The truth must never become a casualty of expediency. We recognize that it carries a high price in the short run, but such sacrifice will pay enormous dividends later. Let’s be guided in our deliberations and actions by the scientific method, as well as, by the moral compass of our spiritualism. While there are instances when some type of perception may turn into the truth, more often than not, it remains just perception, and loaded with undesirable connotations. Our challenge, therefore, is never to allow perception to be a substitute for truth.
What’s the practical application of this approach, for example, to the social situation in Guyana? Some say that President Bharrat Jagdeo and his PPP/C government represent an “ethnocracy.” What’s the meaning of this, in layman terms? It’s a government of one ethnic group that is also a dictatorship. This is a classic case of perception or falsehood. President Jagdeo and his government were duly elected at fair and free elections. They did not rig the elections, as previous PNCR governments had done. In addition, the Jagdeo government contains 50% non-Indians, compared with the Patrick Manning PNM government of Trinbago that has less than 20% of Indians. If there is a dictator in a CARICOM country, then look to Trinbago, and not to Guyana. Yet, our critics including Rickford Burke conveniently ignore this situation and embrace Manning and his government, especially when Burke recently dispatched a letter to Manning describing the evils of the Jagdeo government and siding with the Manning administration; clearly, the logic here points to Rickford Burke as a racist.
President Jagdeo has shown a remarkable capacity to cross ethnic boundaries. It is known that the PNCR government presided over the economic collapse of the bauxite mining town at Linden, and that it is the Jagdeo administration that has infused it with new life. It’s no wonder that the PPP/C won a Parliamentary seat for the first time at Linden (a former stronghold of the PNCR), something which the critics had failed to perceive. The PPP/C won a sizeable number of Afro-Guyanese votes at Linden and elsewhere in the country.
By the pursuit of sound policies and “inclusionary” measures, the Bharrat Jagdeo government has even made greater inroads into interior communities, the once traditional strongholds of the TUF and the PNCR. But the process of “enlightenment” that sweeps across the country has not left the Amerindian communities untouched. In gratitude, they delivered, for the first time, a number of Parliamentary seats to the PPP/C. And how can we forget about President Jagdeo’s recent appointment of Ms Carolyn Rodriguez, an Amerindian, to the high-profile position of Minister of Foreign Affairs! What ethnocracy are they talking about? Are they using marginalization | | |
