The International Decade for Peoples of African Descent Assembly-Guyana (IDPADA-G) is up in arms over the Africa Prosperity Network (APN)’s intention to honour Guyana’s President, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, with the Global Africa Leadership Award.
The pro-Black rights group is calling for the withdrawal of the award, citing several reasons why the Guyanese President should not be conferred with such a prestigious honour.
In a missive on Wednesday, IDPADA-G chided the APN for hailing Ali for his “equity and probity” in the management of the fastest growing economy in the world. The local body said that APN is “clearly unaware that equity and probity are not hallmarks of the Ali administration”.
IDPADA-G said it finds it ironic that the bestowal of the award would come against the cries of African Guyanese, among others, complaining about the alleged absence of equity.
It further noted that the APN, an organization from the African continent, “chooses not to stand in solidarity with brothers and sisters in Guyana, but instead to reward the President of an administration bent on the oppression and marginalization of people of African descent.”
It stated, “This injurious and egregious act is reminiscent of those among our ancestors, albeit a minority, who sold us into slavery, a heinous act from which we are yet to recover”.
IDPADA-G said that the following examples show why Ali should not be given this award:
- The discontinuation of the RAID project that was intended to rehabilitate the farmlands in four African Guyanese communities;
- The insistence on by-passing and under-cutting locally elected representatives of African Guyanese communities and their civil society organizations, like IDPADA-G, preferring rather to engage in so-called ‘direct’ contact with the people;
- The wanton disregard for the human rights and lives of people of African descent, such as the extra-judicial killings of African Guyanese as in the cases of Orin Boston, Quindon Bacchus and others.
- The wanton disregard for the property rights of people of African descent as exhibited in the bulldozing of the homes, and destruction of the livelihoods of the people of Mocha-Arcadia, under the pretext of road development; and
- The constant threat of loss of cooperatively owned lands and the brazen forfeiture of co- operatively owned property, as in the case of the Essequibo Regional Co-operative Union building and the movable assets therein.
“It is against this backdrop of the Irfaan Ali regime’s hostility and disrespect for African Guyanese that IDPADA-G has viewed the intention of the African Prosperity Network to present him with an award. We are dismayed, disappointed and infuriated that an organization out of Ghana, through an aspirant investor here in Guyana, has decided to present its ‘Global African Leadership Award’ to a President who cannot be more undeserving,” the body said.
IDPADA-G also noted that Guyana being the fastest growing economy in the world has “little or nothing to do with the leadership of President Ali”. In fact, it said that the “fortuitous circumstance” was inherited by him.
As to the sharing of the new prosperity along the principles of equity and more so probity, all evidence points to the contrary. Examples, the body said, is abound. It noted that the Ali administration has:
- Gone as far as appealing against a decision of the High Court of Guyana that determined that Exxon should provide insurance coverage for any possible occurrence of an oil spill or attendant incident, not to mention the ongoing protestation in relation to detrimental flaring condoned by the Government;
- Turned a blind eye to discriminatory wage structures;
- Chosen to dance around audit queries that are being hidden from the population;
- continues to award contracts to non-compliant, non-performing cronies
- Given a mere slap on the wrist to someone who ostensibly reduced an Exxon repayment obligation from $214M USD to $3M USD.
- And of course, without cause or notice, curtailed the IDPADA-G subvention to support work towards the goals of the UN Decade for People of African Descent.
