AS Emancipation Day 2023 is almost upon us, the main opposition party the People’s National Congress (PNC) will make a mockery out of the event and play with the emotions of their members and supporters.
The party will use all the recent political events to twist, shape, and change their minds and instill much ill-will, and race-hate towards the ruling party.

The PNC or A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) will send each executive member out into the public at every event that surrounds emancipation to give remarks and make a contribution not only about the event, but also particularly about the state of affairs in the country with respect to Afro-Guyanese who are being allegedly discriminated against.
The party will likely have drums beaten and spirits awakened as they desperately try to get the black people on Aubrey Norton’s side ahead of the next regional and general elections.

Make no mistake about it, the PNC, though divided, will show its opportunistic hand even if it means using the important emancipation events this way to whip up political support and cause hopelessness among the Afro-Guyanese because they want the government of the day to be severely weakened.

They are not alone in this campaign to penetrate the minds of Afro-Guyanese in this clandestine manner.
The International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana (IDPADA-G) and all the extremist Afro-Guyanese groups will observe the occasion of emancipation, but with underlying political themes which will not catch the attention of mainstream media houses and the very gullible social media.

All in all, the aim will be to play up the alleged racism and discrimination by the government against this group of people by looking at all recent events and development of oil resources in a highly skewed and suspicious way.
This means the PNC/APNU and those opposition leaders do not care too much about emancipation or exploring why Afro-Guyanese are not thriving, the way they should, in society.

They are not really concerned about wealth creation from Guyana’s resources which are still not equitably distributed among our people but would stop short, in their criticisms, to come up with proposals of a system that would guarantee this happening for blacks or Afro-Guyanese.

They would use the occasion of emancipation to talk about the poverty rate in Guyana and cost of living, but would not state how the people of African descent, who accounts for a majority of this figure, could exploit the many opportunities made available to them by the current government through Afro-Guyanese entrepreneurism and other things.
Instead, they will most likely talk about Afro-Guyanese being part of some rebellion, and Afro-Guyanese withdrawal from the very system which they need.

This is nasty politics and selfishness if they indeed go down this path in the upcoming days.
Norton would have Afro-Guyanese believe that they are in some form of modern-day slavery if it will help him stay at the helm of the PNC’s politics, and be the candidate at the next elections, regardless of if it means not paying attention to emancipation and where Afro-Guyanese are as a people now.
He appears to not care about reparation and the West or Europe paying for the crimes that they committed against the Afro Guyanese.

Where is the PNC’s Emancipation Day proclamation on reparations, not its message that is recycled every year!
How integrated is the PNC in talks with the ruling government on the need to have proper representation at the level of CARICOM and world on this issue, which is still unresolved more than 260 years since the first slavery rebellion, and 66 years since the PNC was formed.

This is the sad reality of emancipation celebrations, yet Norton, Amanza Desir, Roysdale Forde and the current crop of opposition politicians would not dare address this, but would come to talk and gaff at most events about the current government and what they are allegedly doing to Afro-Guyanese.
This is a symptom of a party that is confused about its mandate at best, and has no clear leadership on the things that are affecting their membership and supporters.

After all, the state of the Afro-Guyanese community cannot be seen as having come about because of the acts of government in isolation from Guyana’s horrific history, which is replete with examples of the hardships of generations of the enslaved Africans and indentured labourers, leaving out colonialism.

Norton and the PNC leaders need to have intellectual stimuli and fortitude to address real emancipation events where the Afro-Guyanese are both conscious and woke. They need to address the issues of reparation, and call on the government to act passionately with its support, not play politics with an issue of this magnitude.

The PNC needs to stop being reactive and tell the people which of the government’s hallmark plans they are supporting with respect to developing the lives of Afro-Guyanese. It needs to show, not assume and concoct stories of racism and discrimination, to be taken seriously by the middle classes or even the working-class blacks or Afro-Guyanese.

He must talk about the few accomplishments of the David Granger Administration for the Afro-Guyanese, and slowly he would realise that there are non-existent. Five years from 2015 to 2020 and 1968 to 1992, no significant progress was made, yet the PNC will not change its modus operandi.

Norton and PNC leaders want to suppress the ability for this group to think about their future. Their “control-freakism,” as one of their APNU allies says, knows no bounds. They are focused on the demonization of Afro-Guyanese who are fending for themselves and taking up land and opening up businesses with the guidance and support offered by the ruling government.
The Afro-Guyanese communities are welcoming development in the areas where the government could not venture to do things because of PNC-APNU opposition is brainwashing the communities.

Now, Afro-Guyanese make their own decisions and are more trusting of the other side that wants to see everyone eat and live comfortably. They want think tanks on the reparation movement and discussion on improving the state of affairs of Afro-Guyanese, and the politics of the PNCR to improve.

Sometimes, the people who are guilty of oppressing and enslaving a people are the same seasonal people who are shouting the loudest and the most destructive. They are doing a disservice and are not being constructive for making of unified and strong making of One Guyana.
So, let’s wait and see, happy Emancipation Day!