WOULD the families of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) workers who were kidnapped and murdered aback of Buxton during the “Buxton uprising” finally get their rights? In May and September of 2005 four GUYSUCO workers disappeared in the Buxton backlands, never to be seen again.  All that was left for their families were their bicycles and lunch bags.

Seven years ago Avinash Hardat was a happy, secured 16-year-old whose proud father, Hardat, exalted at his success at the Caribbean Secondary School Examination Certificate (CSEC) exams and dreamt big dreams for his son, whom he planned to enrol at the University of Guyana UG for the next semester to pursue both their dreams.
He wanted better things for this well-beloved younger son than the laborious work that he did at GUYSUCO and his elder son pursued as a fish vendor/wholesaler.
But that dream was thwarted when Hardat failed to return home from work on the morning of September 24, 2005.
Avinash had accompanied his elder brother to the wharf to purchase fish when his worried sister-in-law, elder brother Chandrika’s wife called to tell them that their father had not returned home; but GUYSUCO workers had found his abandoned bicycle and lunch bag at his work site.
Hardat was a conscientious worker whose commitment to his job had earned him GUYSUCO’s Champion Worker for two consecutive years; as well as a Medal of Service conferred on him by then President Desmond Hoyte; so everyone was fearful that something untoward had happened to him.  That morning their pet dog had inexplicably died.
However, while returning home the police held up the Hardats’ Canter truck  and detained Chandrika for practically the entire day, despite the worried young man explaining his dilemma with his missing father to the callous ranks, whom were suspected to be complicit in the criminal activities of the gangs hiding out aback of Buxton.
Mrs. Hardat explained that, despite her husband knowing the hideouts and the members of the gangs, he never had the courage to inform anyone because he was warned that they had access to every information provided to the police, and that they were well protected by the police.  He was instead forced to provide them with food and drink.
Once they took away his bicycle because they needed transportation to and from the Buxton back lands, forcing him to purchase another one.  
Until one day they threatened to kill him because he had told someone of his plight and somehow word had reached them.
His terrified family begged him to give up the job, but he had dreams for his son and he needed a steady income to fulfill those dreams, plus he was committed to his job so he took the risk to continue working.
Subsequent to his disappearance his teetotaller, very responsible elder son started drinking until today he is an uncontrollable alcoholic.
Avinash was given a scholarship by the government and was promised a stipend to enable him to attend UG, where he majored in medical technology and did computer science as a minor.  He did this for two years, but his brother’s condition became worse, his vibrant mother had gotten very ill, GUYSUCO had long discontinued the financial assistance promised the bereaved families, and the stipend had ceased; so Avinash was forced to drop out and help his brother in his fish-vending business, subsequently accepting employment at Qualfon, a job he left to work at the Survival supermarket because of a slightly higher income.  Avinash would love to continue his studies but he is the sole support of his very ill mother and himself and has been forced into the kind of life that his father, who had provided Avinash with everything that he wanted, had swore would never be the fate of his adored younger son.
This was also the fate of the children of Hardat’s former partner, Sookram (Rohit) Dhanai, who had also disappeared when Hardat did.
Dhanai’s wife, Padmawattie (called Sherry), said that despite former Minister of Social Services, Priya Manickchand instructing that the children of the four GUYSUCO victims be given Public Assistance until they reach18, but the service was discontinued when the eldest daughter, Shelly was 13, and only son, Terry, was 14. Public Assistance was also discontinued for the youngest child, Sharon, whose education is being facilitated by the CIOG, until September of this year, when the Islamic Institute in Enmore closes its doors.  After that it is hardly likely that Sherry would be able to continue sending her youngest daughter to school.
Sherry could only find work as a maid in Providence on the East Bank of Demerara, which pays her $2,000 per day for a full day’s work and incurs transportation costs, so she was forced to withdraw her two older children from school. She said that every time she tried to speak to the resource person in charge of Public Assistance in her area, the woman becomes highly-abusive, making her (Sherry) afraid to approach her.
After her father’s disappearance the eldest daughter Shelly has fallen mysteriously ill, with severe bouts of headaches and other ailments, while for all these years Terry has been getting a ‘small piece’ while he learnt motor engineering. Despite now being very adept at this trade, Terry still earns a ‘small piece’, which he cannot complain about because of his lack of education and difficult circumstances.
Sherry could only find work as a maid in Georgetown, which incurs transportation costs, so she was forced to withdraw her two older children from school. She said that every time she tried to speak to the resource person in charge of Public Assistance in her area, the woman became highly-abusive, making her (Sherry) afraid to approach her.
On May 21, 2005 Sampersaud Taranauth, a GUYSUCO employee also disappeared aback Buxton during the “Buxton Uprising. He never returned home, neither did another associate with whom he worked, Mikeram Sawh; but highly visible were drag marks leading into the bushes of the Buxton backdam, leading from near to the spot where their lunch bags and bicycles were found.
Kamini recalled that she stood on the street outside of her home that very afternoon and witnessed a huge fire aback of Buxton. Until today, because no body was found, there is no legal resolution to the plight of these families, mothers left alone to fend for children without being able to claim the financial rights of their departed husbands.

No bodies; no benefits
Unable to prove their husbands’ deaths because their bodies were never recovered, the wives of these victims were deprived of NIS and other benefits; and although GUYSUCO and the NIS (National Insurance Scheme) stand on legal ground on this issue, these were circumstances out of the norm, and should have been exempted from the stipulated framework. However, one hopes now that the mandatory seven years have expired for the victims, their families will receive all that is due to them, retroactive to seven years prior. And, given the travesty that often passes for justice, these four women should get legal counsel from some caring lawyer, who does not place money above human considerations, to ensure they receive their due.
These women are simple, uneducated women who can only find jobs as maids. All of them said that the transition from beloved housewives who ran their own homes, for which their devoted husbands adequately provided, to cleaning other people’s homes was very painful and traumatic, as was leaving their children alone for the first time – rendering them, for all practical purposes, fatherless and motherless.
Today, justice needs to be served to these bereaved families, and the children of these loving fathers finally receive the rights that their fathers have earned for them through, not just hard work, but with their lives.
The families of the men who disappeared in May 2005 have finally received their death certificates.
After today, the families of those who died in September of that year would be entitled to receive the men’s death certificates also.  Would they also receive their fincial rights? Only time will tell.