Those deportations have opened our eyes

Jul 07, 2009 Editorial

The CARICOM summit is over and the decisions are reported to be far-reaching. The contentious issue of the treatment of illegal immigrants was supposed to dominate the summit. However, the leaders in question—the Prime Minister of Barbados and the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, took the matter by the horns.

The Barbados Prime Minister, David Thompson, aware that the issue was on the lips of every Guyanese, decided ahead of the formal opening of the summit, to meet with the press. Guyanese are not stupid, however, because what he said conflicted with the reports that emanated from the island.
He denied the numbers that flowed from his country but the local Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been able to document every Guyanese who had to be forcibly removed from Barbados.
It was the opening of the summit that caused the matter to be put in perspective. President Bharrat Jagdeo had announced on previous occasions that he was prepared to defend the rights of Guyanese, regardless of where they are. The Guyanese who happened to visit Barbados did not escape his notice. There is not a Guyanese who has not expressed apprehension about entering Barbados, even if they are in transit. Things actually reached the stage where the ‘Land of the Flying Fish’ agreed to have some Guyanese immigration officers work that country’s immigration desk.

People travelling onward to other destinations spoke about being denied the right to continue their journey after landing in Barbados. People spoke of having their money taken away and still others spoke of the line of questioning.
We are aware of one teacher, a head teacher of one of the city’s secondary schools, who was travelling to Barbados to mark CXC examination papers. She was interrogated at the Grantley Adams International Airport about the reason for her visit, although she had arrived with a number of other teachers.
The Barbadian immigration officer suggested that the teacher might have visited the island for the purpose of prostitution. The head teacher replied, “I wouldn’t dream of taking bread out of your mouth by depriving your mother of her job.” She was made to sit on the bench pending deportation until the examination authorities realized that she was missing and they promptly went for her. Hers was a case of unnecessary hassle.

As President Jagdeo told the opening of the 30th Summit, every country has its own immigration laws but it is repugnant to treat illegal immigrants badly. Indeed, the illegals should be treated with some dignity. They should not be embarrassed, and to enforce this attitude, Guyana places no restriction on visitors. It was the first country in the region to allow every CARICOM national the right to remain in the country for six months automatically as that visitor lands.
Suriname, another CARICOM country, has no problem with the Guyanese who have gone there. In fact, the situation appears to be one in which the actual border has been removed. Guyanese have taken rice cultivation to Suriname and that country seems eternally grateful.
The only people deported from the neighbouring Republic are criminals. Having said all of this, it is necessary that Guyanese, who visit other countries, recognize the laws of those countries. As the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda said, free movement of people does not mean automatic residence for those people.

We seem to be a migratory people in search of the ‘pie in the sky’ and in so doing we create the impression that we are running from our country. Surely this cannot be something that sends a positive image of our nation. Instead, it suggests that there is a lot wrong in Guyana and that people need to flee.
Guyana is in a far better position than most of these countries; its people do not know of hunger through an absence of food. There may not be many sponsored jobs given that many people are not skilled to fill the available positions, but the country is ripe for any entrepreneur.
Perhaps the time has come when Guyanese, recognizing that they may not be wanted in some countries in the region, should direct their energies toward developing their own country. Already those deported are now waking up to the fact that they can make a positive contribution to Guyana.
It is a pity that it had to take the embarrassment of being chased from a CARICOM country to open their eyes.

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