The Roop Column - Representation of all the people

The Roop Column - Representation of all the people
Kaieteur News, 6 January 2008
Over the recent months the debate has raged about which party best
represents the racial aspects of our society.

I have travelled the world and am always proud to say I am a Guyanese
but my culture is that of a West Indian. My heritage is of East Indian
descent and I keep up some of the traditions of their culture. As a
Guyanese though, one can be of any of the six major races.

We are all proud of our heritage and where our ancestors came from.
Many ancestors did not come of their own free will and the world has
yet to fully compensate the descendants for their wrongs to many of
those that came as slaves.

My great grandmother who came from India died in 1976 at the age of
102. She was getting a bucket of water at a well in India , when the
British soldiers asked her if she wanted to go across the water and
make some money and then they would bring her back.

Little did she know that it would take nine months to get to Guyana and
be almost impossible to return.

The big difference is that she came in search of a better life and had
the option. She settled in Unity on the East Coast and her property
there still exists. Most of my family are buried at Unity.

We must all respect our diverse cultures. Recent letters have all been
from one side of the race spectrum advocating for better
representation, for better understanding, for better inclusion, for
better acceptance.

The fact is that the constitution calls for equal representation and
the recognition of lands as stated in the Amerindian Act. Therefore,
one must ask why then do we find such a raging debate on representation
and misrepresentation of our people. We need to ensure as a people that
our government is for all the people as directed by the constitution
and not a government of few of the people and for few of the people.

We must accept that our country is made up of different races and
cultures and we act differently in many ways, even though we are all
one, Guyanese. Different programmes for different people and cultures
must be put in place by a new set of thinking, with a new set of hope
and vision for one people, one nation and one destiny.

The recent controversy played out in the letter columns and by
columnists states that:

· The PPP represents only the Indian population

· The PNC represents only the African people and

· The AFC that says it represents no one racial group meaning it
represents all Guyanese.

· None of these are the real answers

· The fact is that we need to represent all racial groups, we need to
represent all cultures, and we need to respect all traditions and the
key to the answer is to cater programmes specifically for each group as
needed to ensure harmony.

PROPOSALS

Mr. Clarence Ellis, a well known Guyanese has advocated his views
recently in many forums on this subject. He advocates that there are
three levels of representation which I have listed and my suggested
answers.

1.The representation of the people holding various views of
how the state should function —Should the state be free
market? Shouldthe statebesocialist? Or should the state
besomewhere in betweenthe two approaches of free market and
socialist?

- I advocate for a free market state with a very strong social
conscience.

2. The second level of representation relates to the various
communities in the country—the African villages, the East
Indian communities, the Mixed rural communities, the wards in
the cities, the Amerindian communities, and the Hinterland
communities which are now assuming enormous importance as the
garimpeiros dominate small mining activity and
aswood-cuttingactivitiesdenude the forests. This is the
issue of local government and how local communities are
represented at the Central Government level.

- I advocate that we must have constitutional reform prior to the next
elections where we can have constituent representation at all levels of
local government and in Parliament.

3. The third level of representation relates to the
institutions and how they support the state to achieve the
societal goals identified in No. 1 and how they achieve
fairness incommunity relations.

There are four major public service institutions and there is
great concern that the races are fairly represented in the
public service institutions. The four institutions are the
Judiciary, the Civil Service,the Police and the Teaching
Services. The debates relating to representation on these
institutions have focused on the Police and the Army (not
usually mentioned as a public service institutions but now
included as such because of its importance in the security
of the people).

- I agree that we must ensure a balanced approach to governance.

CONCLUSION

This is a very complex issue that cannot be solved in one column. Many
of us believe that the goal must be to create a Social Compact that
creates inclusion of all representative groups.

We must though, retool institutions from parliament to the private
sector to the trade unions.

The haemorrhaging from these groups has left us with skeletons to work
with.

We can do this with teamwork and commitment to a better Guyana where we
must first recognize our race, culture and traditional differences and
work within that framework for a better life for all of us. Let's “tek
a taste” of the Vision, and work towards improving our nation.