Last week, the Government of Guyana announced that it has approved some $17.3 million for Emancipation celebrations across the country. These funds will be used by several African groups to take care of expenses to be incurred in preparation for Emancipation 2018. The money will be divided among the groups.
The Government’s chief spokesperson is quoted in the state media as saying that the African groups registered with the Ministry are also engaged, and are being assisted with plans and programmes in the respective communities to celebrate Emancipation Day.
It was also related to the media that there are two main cultural activities occurring on August 1, including the traditional activities at the National Park. The Government has now decided that there will also be a “special event” scheduled for Emancipation Day at Union Village on the Corentyne. That event will be held at the Union Cultural Complex, and has been described by the Government spokesperson as one which “is going to be a major activity for the Emancipation”.
Also, it was related that the Ministry of Social Cohesion, which is responsible for Culture, Youth and Sport, will also be collaborating with African Groups to celebrate Emancipation Day 2018.
While no one can criticise the gesture by the Executive, which by its mandate must provide financial assistance to these cultural groups in order to promote and preserve the country’s rich and diverse culture, the Government must understand that the provision of this assistance cannot appear to be preferential, partisan, and at the expense of others.
If this money will be doled out for Emancipation activities, a similar amount of money should also be provided for the programmes that are being put together by other national and independent cultural organisations that are just as important as the Emancipation day activities.
Therefore, the Government needs to explain why it refused to provide any technical or budgetary assistance to the Indian Arrival Committee for the activities that the organisation had planned to celebrate the 180th Anniversary of Indian Arrival to Guyana, which was seen as a major milestone for people of Indian descent and Guyanese in general.
After all, it is no secret that IAC has been silent for obvious reasons on the matter, because it probably has not mustered up the confidence to raise its concerns publicly, given Guyana’s racially charged and currently divided society, especially when one looks at the scope of politics that are playing out within the National Assembly and the country’s political arena.
The truth is, the Government also refused to support, financially or otherwise, another proposal put forward by the IAC which was designed in scope, content and form to foster harmony among Guyanese. Having made representation and attended several meetings where proposals and budgets were presented, the Government has not funded the IAC-conceptualised event.
Additionally, given the Government’s talk about social cohesion, the entity continued its quest to get assistance to execute some of its functions by submitting another budget proposal to the subject Ministry on September 25, 2017 for inclusion in the 2018 budget. Nothing appears to have been included when one looks at the approved 2018 budget for that Ministry.
The long and short of it all is that no one opposes Government’s funding of cultural organisations. As a matter of fact and principle, such a gesture should be encouraged and mandated. And since Guyana is a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural country, all groups competing for financial assistance should be dealt with fairly and evenhandedly by the Government, regardless of the Executive’s composition or key demographic constituencies.
This is even more important given the fact that it is these organisations that are working hard on the ground to create the change that we expect to see in our society. More sensitivity should also be shown by the Government because it is organisations like the IAC that are undertaking the challenging task of ensuring the survival of cultural traditions and commemorative events.
