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APNU Govt. will invest in ‘Rucatux’
…Norton tells Buxton Emancipation celebrations
Kaieteur News – Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton on Monday evening told Buxtonians that a future A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) government will invest in ‘Rucatux’, to create a musical genre of which Guyana is proud of.
He was at the time ushering in Emancipation Day when he revealed some of his party’s future plans if elected to office. For one, Norton explained that promoting the African culture through this avenue will be on his agenda.
“I have nothing against Jamaica. I have nothing against Trinidad, I enjoy seeing people dance reggae, I enjoy seeing people dance calypso but you know for those of you who go to an oldies, or to one of these shows and you hear ‘Rucatux’… ‘Rucatux’ must have more meaning than just the meaning we attach to it,” he said.
To this end, the Opposition Leader noted, “Rucatux as I understand it is a combination of Queh Queh and Comfa…and so what in essence you have is a genre of music that can become indigenous to the African Guyanese community, important to Guyana and be sold as a product and so any government that is serious would put resources into developing that kind of indigenous music…an APNU government of the future will invest in culture and transform something like ‘Rucatux’ into something we are proud of.”
Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton
The Leader went on to encourage the gathering to buy from the shops in the community that are owned by Guyanese rather than support the Chinese stores that are sending away the profits to develop their country. He was keen to note that while he is not “anti-Chinese” such a notion is important to the development of the African community especially. In fact, the Leader commenced his presentation by encouraging his supporters to free themselves from mental slavery as the first step towards freedom.
Norton who is representing close to half of the voters in the world’s fastest growing economy and more so a rapidly developing oil producing state did not say much about the sector, except to say that even with oil resources, there is a noticeable increase in poverty. Even though he noted his concern, the Opposition Leader did not share his plans with the Buxton citizens on how he plans to make sure they benefit from improved living conditions with the newfound wealth.
Nonetheless, he utilised his time on stage to elaborate on the importance of lands as he told the Buxton community, they should not be quick to sell their lands or allow people to take them away, like at Mocha, East Bank Demerara or Hill Foot, Soesdyke Linden Highway. He said, “We need to develop a new relationship with land…First of all, we must learn not to sell it since we blink. Second, we must ensure we begin to utilise the land to achieve our economic independence and third, we must not allow people to take away lands from us at their whims and fancies. There must be no more Mocha, there must be no more Hill Foot…we must recognise that our ancestors have left us land and we must do everything to ensure we keep those lands.” On education, he said, people must educate themselves so they can become their own bosses rather than merely be used to get them a job. Norton concluded his Emancipation presentation by pointing out that Africans are collecting a pittance from the PPP and are trying to get other African brothers and sisters to join the party. He said they must emancipate themselves from the “PPP slavery” in which they portray propaganda while discrimination remains rampant. Norton said the discrimination is particularly evident in the award of State contracts.
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