Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 19, 2014 News
…. AML/CFT impasse features at Enmore’s Day Commemoration
Hundreds turned out to commemorate the annual Enmore Martyrs’ Day Rally on June 16,
last. They included President Donald Ramotar; Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds; Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) President, Carvil Duncan; FITUG General Secretary, Kenneth Joseph; and President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), Komal Chand.
Lallabagee Kissoon, Pooran, Rambarran, Dookhie and Harry were all shot by the Colonial Police during a protest action at Enmore Sugar Estate, East Coast Demerara on June 16, 1948.
After an official welcome by FITUG General Secretary Joseph, and prayers from the religious denominations, there was a wreath laying ceremony. President Ramotar laid the first wreath. He was followed by the families of the martyred sugar workers.
The event provided a platform for the various speakers to review the situation with sugar in today’s economy.
“When we thought that the sugar protocol would have given us a guaranteed market at preferential prices forever, in 2010 that was changed, when the price of sugar was cut by 36 per cent,” Preisdent Donald Ramotar said, “Few other industries in this country, and I would dare say, few other industries in the world, would have survived, at a 36 per cent cut in its price.”
Komal Chand presented a history of the Enmore Martyrs as well as other issues political and otherwise currently plaguing the country and the industry at large. He spoke about the failure to pass the Anti Money Laundering Legislation.
He was critical of the current governing body of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
The veteran trade unionist and Member of Parliament said, “We live in a crisis ridden world, and in a country where political disharmony is pronounced significantly since 2012.
“At this time, the continued debate over the passage of the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Finance of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Bill and the threat of blacklisting have attracted the attention and concerns from all quarters of society.
“The consequences and repercussions we understand are severe and will create many hardships”.
According to Chand, at this point in the nation’s history, “such unwelcomed developments can only be destructive and harmful.”
Chand expressed a hope that GuySuCo’s production targets be met. He stated that a new Board of Directors for GuySuCo is long overdue, especially since the present board is now “headless.”
Ramotar detailed the progression within the industry. He highlighted the government’s aim in some of its political agendas.
“In this field everyone will have to make sacrifices…The industry is not in problems because of management or because of workers.”
According to the President, it has changed because of the changes in the trading sector, internationally. He drew reference to the price cuts from sugar being sold to the European market.
He issued a public invitation to Chand to be part of the GuySuCo board to dismiss his perception that the industry’s shortcomings are as a result of bad management. President Ramotar explained that ‘within a month’s time’ a new board would be fashioned.
Chand should be present to participate in the industry’s management for an awareness that GuySuCo’s protocol is in the best interest of its workers.
Carvil Duncan reminded the nation of the ill nature of the plantocracy of that time, the injustice to workers prior to the Enmore Massacre, and the subsequent struggle for an independent sugar industry represented by a Trade Union of the workers’ choice.
“It was not the first time sugar workers were slaughtered; they were slaughtered on many more occasions prior to 1948, and they were slaughtered primarily because the plantocracy of that time did what they liked, when they liked and how they liked, with the workforce they had,’’ said Duncan.
He encouraged the country to appreciate the privilege of a current independent sugar industry, and urged the safeguarding of the martyrs’ legacy.
And Ramotar commenting on the AML/CFT Bill in the wake of Chand’s comments reminded that the proposed amendments to the legislation did not come from Government but rather from the international community.
He said that there was a decision by the United Nations, that all the countries of the world should strengthen their financial regulations “so that drug traffickers, money launderers, and international criminals will not use any one country to do their business.”
According to Ramotar, “This is a Bill to fight corruption and drug traffickers, so those who do not want it and those who are fighting against it must tell us, on which side of the fence they stand in the struggle against corruption.”
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
Apr 19, 2024
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