RECENTLY, the press carried a letter from Mr Godfrey Skeete mentioning Dr David Hinds’s letter to Stabroek News calling on “the Black collective to take responsibility for their own destiny”. 

Professor Acabre Nkofi had been preaching the same message for years and in his manifesto, “The Rebirth of the Black man”, he pointed out that Black people should not go overboard in putting their faith and trust in political leaders, since politicians pursue their own interests which may often not coincide with the interests of ordinary folk.
The recent parliamentary debacle with respect to the Amaila Falls hydroelectric project and the Specialty Hospital are good examples of Black politicians pursuing their own political interest and ignoring the interests of the Black collective.
In the actual building of the Amaila Falls project, Black technicians and Black workers would have supplied the backbone of the workforce, since the greatest pool of such workers are among Black people who have a traditional knowledge and liking for the interior.

And with the resulting expansion of industry and the economy as a whole, Black workers would have found further employment. Black unemployment rates tend to be higher than that of other groups, so though the whole nation would have gained in the long-run, Black people would have had comparatively greater employment opportunities than others.

In accessioning specialist and costly medical help, Black people are the least able to do so. Other groups would have their extended families, both locally and abroad, chipping in to help and as such they would be able to access specialist medical help,thereby preserving their life and health.

The Black man, on the other hand, would be left anonymously incapacitated and left to die with his grieving relatives helpless to do anything. We would have been the authors of our own suffering. A local Specialty Hospital would therefore have been a great blessing and benefit to Black people.

Professor Accabre Nkofi, in his “Rebirth of the Black man”, pointed out that President Burnham pursued his own political interest which did not always coincide with the interests of Black people and this resulted in very negative effects on the long-term interests of the Black collective.

Regrettably, the present Black leadership has fallen into the same syndrome as President Burnham did, in respect of the Amaila Falls project and the Specialty Hospital and ignored Black people’s and indeed the national interest.
It would be a master stroke for APNU to take the initiative and resuscitate the Specialty Hospital project before the government does so, or the consortium of private investors who are assembling themselves to invest in a highly profitable project.