Latest update September 9th, 2024 12:24 AM
Aug 01, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column
Kaieteur News – Emancipation! Man was born to be free. There had to be an Emancipation Day because men made slaves of other men. From fetters to freedom. From the removal of shackles to the richness of a soaring of the spirit. It was what was meant to be. From day one. From Egypt and Moses to Babylon and Cyrus to America and Lincoln, the whips were stilled, and men thrilled to the joy of liberty at last. Free as a bird, free as a whiff of cool summer’s eve air. August 1 is a day at long last of human dignity; one that came about due to the infamy of slavery. Regrettably, August 1, is now a day trampled by more human notoriety and indignities right here in Guyana.
The oil came and the thoughts were that the drudgery and economic misery of the Guyanese people would fade slowly at first, then more quickly with each passing year, to its rightful place over the horizon. Never to return. Instead of Guyana’s oil wealth, the inheritance of all Guyanese, being used to free them, it is being misused by leaders to squeeze them into a corner and keep them locked up there. There is enough oil to deliver the kind of economic emancipation that belongs to every single citizen of this country. but only if it is managed honestly. It has not been so. Which leader, what kind of government thinker, where does one find a government that drafts an oil fund bill to be finalized into law, and leaves out a penalty for stealing or any other kind of wrongdoing with the people’s oil money? It is freedom from imprisonment (emancipation) for some in government who oversee, who participate, in misdeeds of this kind. It is slavery for those not so doggedly dishonest as even to think of tampering with the money that must be shared with others.
The oil money, as small as it is, could still mean something, make a difference, in the lives of Guyanese on the lower rungs of the economic ladder. But those in charge of the money, the decision-makers in the sitting government, have abandoned ideas pertaining to fairness, equity, and the inclusivity that should be prioritized. To make this country be the real country that it should be but has never even tried to be. National leaders have talked about it, promised it, but are yet to deliver it. PPP is one pea in that pod, the PNC is another. The arrival of oil should have eradicated the economic gaps; wise leaders would have seen to that, worked ethically and industriously to arrive there. They haven’t; and they do not even bother to justify their actions anymore. The preference is to deliver broadsides to those who tell leaders how naked they are, and why more people are not pointing to their shame. Guyanese reality is that the rich have become superrich, the usual mass of poor grown larger and poorer. An amputating cost of living regime, with ever-increasing prices for food and most other necessities of life, has buried struggling citizens deeper, pushed them farther back. This is not the long-awaited for, glorious, emancipation promised by oil. This is of Guyana’s political leaders in the PPP Government, and to a lesser degree in the PNC opposition, consenting to serve in the enslavers’ kitchen and leave their people to fend for themselves. When trust is betrayed, then confidence flees. And when both of those are lost by the expectant in an oil-producing country, then what is the result if not this new man-made slavery that disguises itself as capitalism’s prosperity and oil democracy.
Emancipation! The PPP Government makes a big production out of it, how much they would do to make that happen from the oil. The PNC Opposition is at a lower level of brightness. If one or the other were true to their public postures and verbal productions, then Guyanese would be more than the richest people in the world. Guyanese would be the economically freest, they would be the proud owners of what is unfettered and unfazed by any circumstances. Leaders wouldn’t have a need to manipulate their minds, or massage their memories, to the point that all they see are internal enemies. The coming of oil has driven Guyanese to line themselves up one against the other. Some cheap, sleazy cult leader turns on a switch and all the lights go off in many Guyanese heads. It is a frightening picture of citizens openly and readily enslaving themselves.
August 1 should not be a day of singular celebration for Guyanese of African descent only. Universal emancipation compels its celebration by all freedom loving people. The experts scattered across the globe say that Guyanese are on top of the world. Somebody should explain to half of them (to me) why their feet are fastened in the dungeon. If our feet are cemented, riveted, to the floor, then how can our heads soar to heights that are rightly ours? We try too hard, and we could split ourselves in two. Oil slavery. Callous and cunning leadership slaveries. It is August 1, and every Guyanese should be first in line. Now, there is an Emancipation Day to remember! A dream or a damnation? Yet, this is the jarring reality of the Guyanese condition on this August 1, Emancipation Day in the year of our Lord. He is taking a nap. We must rest our chains, ease our fears, ignore our pains, rise above it all in the grace of a spirit that cannot be defeated. Emancipation will come. Guyanese must find a way to overcome. We shall overcome!
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
Mineral and oil rich country borrowing to feed, clothe and house its citizens.
Sep 09, 2024
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