I HAVE written several times since the APNU+AFC lost power in August 2020, that if someone comes from another planet and sits in the audience and listens to the addresses of African leaders in person, on social media and in the print media, they would refuse to believe that these very leaders that lament what they see as the African condition since 2020 were in power for five years – 2015-2020.

You listen to the deliveries, social media commentaries and the writings in the press, and you are forced to ask when they are going to apologise to African people of this country for the wrong things they have done to African Guyanese themselves.

And it does not have to be a sycophantic apology; rather it could be an explanation with expressions of regret. When this is done, both African Guyanese and the country will show greater respect.

Former president, Mr. David Granger has a weekly social media programme – the Public Interest. In none of those items, Mr. Granger looked back at the time he held the presidency.
Dr. Clive Thomas is a weekly columnist with the Stabroek News. There has never been a week in which Dr. Thomas reflected on his role as CEO of the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) and Chairman of GuySuCo.

All the energies of the former rulers are directed to what the current government ought to be doing for African Guyanese but not a word as to what they should have done when they were in power. I believe African Guyanese would like to have explanations and even half an apology is expected on the following:

1- President Granger commissioned an enquiry into the public service. One of the recommendations was the urgent need to up the retirement age from 55 to 60. It never happened. Why Mr. Granger feels that African Guyanese are not interested in knowing why this particular recommendation was put on the shelf when the change would have benefitted African Guyanese.

2-AFC parliamentarian, Michael Carrington, put his name to the Bill that was to completely overhaul the sentences for possession of marijuana. The Bill was put on the order paper to be read in 2016. Mr. Carrington told the media that he was instructed by APNU chief whip, Amna Ally, not to proceed. To this day, African Guyanese who bear the brunt of prosecution from marijuana possession are contemptuously treated through the denial of an explanation.

3 – Former Deputy CEO of SARA, Aubrey Retemyer revealed on the Gildarie-Freddie Kissoon Show that he proposed an unused section of the doctors’ quarters on Quamina Street be refurbished to use as head office for SARA instead of paying substantial sums each month to the Muneshwar family for its house on Main Street. Mr. Retemyer said his suggestion was never debated.

Yet this same Thomas is a weekly guest of David Hinds on a social media programme named Politics 101, and to date, Thomas has never reflected on Politics 101 about his time in government. Dr. Thomas spoke at an in-house meeting in Buxton in 2017 and told his Buxtonian audience there should be cash grants from oil revenues.
Subtly playing on the ethnic consciousness of African people, Dr. Thomas named the cash grant suggestion – the Buxton proposal. All over the world, radical economists refer to it as “cash grant from oil.” It is obvious why Dr. Thomas named it the Buxton proposal.

A few months back, he wrote a series of articles on the theoretical foundations of the cash grant delivery which he keeps referring to as the Buxton proposal.
But we are yet to hear from Dr. Thomas as to when he was chairman of GuySuCo, the decision was made to close the Berbice sugar estate, jeopardizing the lives of thousands of Berbicians. Why APNU+AFC leaders refuse to see they have an obligation to discuss these past situations with the Guyanese people?

4- Former Education Minister, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, is completing publication of his speeches in parliament.
For a brilliant scholar with a rich history in politics, why Dr. Roopnaraine feels Guyanese would be more interested in reading about his parliamentary deliveries for five consecutive years between 2015 and 2020 rather than informing the nation about his role in government.

And why he was first appointed as Minister of Natural Resources then moved to the Ministry of Education. Honestly and sincerely speaking from my heart, I have no interest whatsoever in reading Dr. Roopnaraine’s parliament speeches.

A whole chunk of Guyanese history is missing because leaders in the PNC, WPA and the AFC do not want to talk about their role in power between 2015 and 2020. At least they can amplify or hide or blackwash things but they have a deep, moral obligation to the nation to provide answers.