Govt. must be held accountable for challenges faced by citizens – visiting US Congressman tells Mocha meeting

May 29, 2024 News

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– to raise concerns of residents with Pres. Ali, US officials

Kaieteur News – Allegations of discrimination, racial and economic to the point of alleged apartheid in the country, in addition to the divide and rule tactic being employed by the government were among concerns raised by residents of Mocha Arcadia when they met with Jonathan Jackson, Representative of the 1st District of Illinois, United States on Tuesday.  Residents also spoke about the destruction of their proprieties when government sent bulldozers to forcefully remove them off a land to construct a road.

The Government organized visit by Congressman Jackson, son of the revered US Civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson saw residents baring their souls to him, complaining about their suffering. Minister of Information Kwame McCoy, in an attempt to set the tone for the conversation ahead, while thanking residents for the mid-morning meeting suggested that “the Congressman has been in Guyana for a few days, and is visiting our country for the first time, and I am sure by the impressions he has, he will certainly be repeating visits to Guyana, and to our country in which we have so much to celebrate in terms of our diversity, our ethnic diversity.”

Congressman Jackson however, opted to modify the format of the meeting, instead of the presentations on development initiatives by the administration, insisting he was not there to give a speech. He was in fact, unwavering in his position, “I have come out to hear from you as a Representative from the US Congress, Representing the First Congressional District, and I would like to share with my colleagues what I have heard from you; You share with me what I should know.” According to the Congressman: “I am here as one of your brothers, one of your colleagues, one of your friends, I wanna hear from you, I don’t have a speech to give to you, I want to know your hopes, I want to know your ambitions, I wanna know your challenges, I wanna know the things that you have experienced.”

He confirmed for those in attendance that, “I have been offered this opportunity to be here today by President (Irfaan) Ali. I want to thank him for having extended that opportunity.” The President, he said, “also encouraged me to meet with the Opposition and to come into the community and to listen to the people.” With this in mind however, and recognising the joined histories of the two peoples–joined through slavery and its parallels, Congressman Jackson said, “…in the spirit of bringing us together, in understanding what we can do together, to understanding that this government be held accountable for the challenges that we face.”

At this point, things took another turn, since having delivered his presentation and the activity was now opened up to contributions from the residents, the moderator attempted to limit contributions by residents to 30/60 seconds, to which Jackson responded, “this is a family dialogue.” He adumbrated further, “if one person wants to talk longer, I am available to listen, so we are going to do this like we are sitting in the kitchen, I want to hear from you, I wanna know the challenges.”

According to the US Representative, “…I am not here representing no government, I am here as a representative of my District, the First District of Illinois and I wanna hear from you and I would hope that you would be as candid as you can, some people are going to take longer because they have more to say and I appreciate that, and that’s fair.” With that said, Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Nina Flue Bess, was the first to take the opportunity, as a constituency representative, and presented the US Congressman with a dossier, outlining among other instances of perceived discrimination including the destruction of properties and livelihoods of residents in the communities.

The Ministry of Housing and Water’s Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), with the assistance of the Guyana Police Force, demolished a number of homes, livestock and farms in the East Bank Demerara village last year. The reasons given at the time was for the construction of the highway, which according to residents has since proven false. During the course of the boisterous and candid interactions, residents spoke of the attempts by the government to pay as little as $5M for lost homes and businesses.

Underpayment

According to one resident, Lashawda Ellis, “$5M can’t build a house for nobody in Guyana, much less a family of nine; we had cattle and farms…” It was outlined too that among the compensatory packages was relocation to lands, one where they could not conduct businesses, or in some cases, they are still to receive the promised lands, a year later. Ellis dubbed this as unfair, especially since, “people coming from outside Guyana can access land within a month.” She surmised the, “problem seems to be an Afro- Guyanese problem,” a sentiment shared by many present. Terrorism and bullyism were also adjectives attributed to the incumbent administration with regards its treatment of the people of Mocha Arcadia such as in the varying valuations offered to persons of different ethnicities in the over ebullient activity lasting just over an hour.

Numerous complaints were also lodged specifically against CH&PA’s Rawl Aaron, who residents blamed for a significant number of bottlenecks, frustration division to the point where one resident claimed “all Aaron does do, is sell you dreams.”  “We need justice, we are homeless people and we are living uncomfortable,” according to another resident in her desperate plea for assistance as another pig farmer lamented his struggles to now pay rent having had his property destroyed.

“Mocha is not a bed of roses; this place is not a bed of roses. Life is hard in this place; Life hard and we need betterment, y’all saying is one Guyana show everybody that this is one Guyana; not just pick out some.”

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• accountable, challenges, citizens, Mocha, US Congressman

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