Region 10 awaits its day in the witness stand

Oct 04, 2012 Letters

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Dear Editor,
The people of Region 10 will persevere and succeed. Psalm 91 in the Holy Bible is living testimony of the goodness of God and reinforces the argument that a people united can never be defeated. It is public knowledge the PPP has viciously targeted us. It is also becoming clearer the wealth and resources of this region that was built and tamed with our blood, sweat and tears are the envy of the PPP and have become their source for plunder and abuse. By now the public is aware of our capabilities and our resistance toward those who threaten to deny us our God given right to equality. Before we knew this right was enshrined in the Constitution it was instilled in us before we could talk and it was sang as a lullaby by our caregivers in the hymnal…”Jesus loves the little children/All the children of the world/Red and yellow, black and white, They are precious in His sight./ Jesus loves the little children of the world!”
It is a world that as we grew older we instinctively passed on to the babies around us. It is a world that cannot and will not be changed. It is a world that gives meaning to our existence and a world we will continue to stand and fight to secure for ourselves and loved ones. In short order, we were nurtured on this value and continue to bequeath this nourishment to our descendants.  This is who we are.
Eleven-year-old Waynewright Marshall of the Amelia’s Ward Primary School, declared the winner in the just concluded Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) Spelling Bee Competition, is another proud day for Region 10.
In 2011 Terron Alleyne of Regma Primary topped Guyana at the Grade Six Exams. In 2010 the country’s top ten students for the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Exams were from McKenzie High School. In 2012, this school ranked 2nd countrywide with CAPE scoring 100% passes in Maths Unit 1 and 2. This is a sampling of the minds nurtured and raised in Region 10 and testimony to the premium we pay to education.
Meletia Hossannah, Suzanne Hamilton, Waynewright Marshall, Terron Alleyne and all our children make us proud.
As a resident, trade unionist and councillor, congratulations are in order for our young guns. They continue to represent the symbol of what a people can achieve in spite of the obstacles placed before and around them. They are precious to us and make our hearts swell. Our children are constant reminders that even though this government has denied us much, the desire to create opportunities for them will steel our determination to continue waging this just war, to ensure a world that treats them preciously.
After the arsonist(s) burnt the One Mile Primary School, the Minister of Education thought her divisive political rant would gain mileage and deter our pursuit for justice, similarly to those who thought our fight for the right to self determination would involve us destroying the very things that make us who we are and of which we are reliant on. Even with the tirade, the minister was compelled to admit, and I quote, “Linden has the most trained teachers in Guyana with 93 per cent of the primary level being trained.”
On Saturday, we began putting down the new structure in our continued self help to rebuild our school. These are the moments my grandson would use the catch phrase “Hello…!” to express his delight.
As unemployment in Linden hovers at 70 percent, which our recent street struggles also focussed, on 15th September the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) awarded two contracts valued at $475 million to S. Jagmohan Hardware Supplies and Construction Services.
This has been the practice of government and sees the practice of these contractors to bring workers outside of the region to do the job. If any work is granted to Lindeners it will be the among the lower level and pay, even as Lindeners are more qualified and better equipped for the job than their supervisors and are often the ones who realize the project’s success. What qualifies Jagmohan to be awarded these contracts over contractors in Linden, a community that has the nation’s most skilled artisans, outstanding work ethics, and built the region’s water system? Nothing. But the real answer lies in who we are and why we are being targeted.
It confirms why we are denied the right to work, to participate in our development, and the right to be represented by a trade union of choice and engage in collective bargaining as in the case of the three year old stand-off between the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI) and the Guyana Bauxite & General Workers Union (GB&GWU), which continues to be enabled by the Donald Ramotar administration in as much as the High Court has ordered action.
This opportunity is taken to advice President Ramotar that justice delayed is justice denied and his contempt for some workers leaves the union no other option but to intensify action to ensure the Court’s decision is respected.
And with the 18th July Commission of Inquiry started Monday, 24th September, the people of Region 10 are paying close attention. We heard the inconsistencies and dishonesty of those in uniform, in as much as they have taken an oath on the Holy Bible ‘to speak the truth and
nothing but the truth, so help me God.’
We are awaiting our day on the witness stand, when as children serving a living God and comforted in these trying times by Psalm 91, we will have our turn to speak the truth. Additionally, the information in the 2011 U.S. Department of Labor Report that citied Guyana as guilty of “the worst forms of child labour” is something known by us. The fact that this report gains coverage serves as reminder of the peril we face, as Guyanese, when we have to await another to speak for us because we are not allowed to speak for ourselves. This said concern was raised by me in a letter sent to the media with specific mentioned made of the use of children to gather scrap metal in Linden in  the Montgomery mines environs by a PPP-sympathetic employer.
This information was deleted from the letter. As a trade unionist, the denial of my effort to draw the nation’s attention to the violation of the rights of the child raises concern for the perpetuation of this wrong by those within our midst who opt to hide the wrong.
All Guyana’s children are precious and we must all be able to live in an environment that assures us this.
Leslie Gonsalves

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