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Dr. Wazir Mohamed’s Presentation to Lands Commission of Inquiry- Part I

The concern about land ownership continues amidst growing perception the People’s Progressive Party /Civic government is moving to dispossess Africans and Amerindians from wealth accrued through ancestral land rights by their land distribution programme. Village Voice News will be examining this issue from the perspective of difference voices.

Today we feature Part I of a presentation made by Dr. Wazir Mohamed to the Lands Commission of Inquiry on November 23, 2017. Dr. Mohamed, who is Guyanese, is an Associate Professor, Sociology, Indiana University East, USA

Introduction

Honourable Commissioners,

I am especially pleased to be given this opportunity to speak with you, and to share my knowledge on the history of the land problem of Guyana. In this presentation I begin by outlining some salient facts about the history of the struggle by the salt of the earth, the laboring population for access to land from the early 19 century.

I prefer to speak about the 19th century, as the period of the sugar revolution. This is necessary because acquisitions of lands outside of the European sugar plantations, were connected and integrally related to the needs of the sugar industry. The sugar barons, through their influence over the colonial state, exercised absolute controls over access to land, especially Crown Lands between 1838 and 1898. Planter influence and control over access to land was not limited to Crown Lands.

They had unlimited and in many instances, what can reasonably be described as unfettered controls over the development of land policy. Land policy was a primary tool used after emancipation to control movement and price of labor. A reading of the land ordinances of 1835/36, 1839, 1851, 1852, 1856, 1857, 1861, and 1898 render an understanding of the history through which our current land tenure structure evolved. Closer reading of these ordinances demonstrates the following:

  1. The ordinances of 1835/36, 1839, and 1861 – virtually prevents the former enslaved to acquire Crown
  2. The ordinances of 1851, 1852, 1856, and 1857 – produced fragmentation in the villages, and in many ways created bottle-necks, which thwarted the original intent of the former enslaved to work the backlands of the villages as cooperatives.
  3. The ordinance of 1898 – opened Crown Lands at very concessionary rates. Lands which for 60 years were out of reach of the former enslaved, became accessible to the formerly indentured, who were being hemorrhaged out of the sugar because of the global sugar crisis of the This lead to the evolution of the rice industry.
  4. The result – disparity in tenure between the two most populous sections of the laboring population.

Honourable Commissioners, we cannot make sense of the dilemma we face today with respect to the multitude of land disputes, and to lack of equity that permeate the society between different communities, and classes of our population without recourse to an understanding of the planter mentality – which informed colonial policy and hence law making.

The problems we face, the very reason for this commission’s existence, is deeply connected to the structure of land tenure developed in the period 1838-1898. In many respects the divergent access to land between descendants of the enslaved and descendants of indentured servants emerged, and evolved because of the needs of sugar. I have argued in other places that the structure of our ethnic/racial culture have its roots in the divergent access to land.

I arrived at this conclusion after years of studying this problem. I grew up in a farming household, and is familiar with farming in the East Indian as well as the neighboring African Village of Farm, East Bank Essequibo. The inequality in access to tenure I observed during my childhood between East Indians and Africans raised many unanswered questions. This lead me to study the roots of ethnic/racial problem.

Honourable commissioners, my journey to find answers to this troubling racialized structure of our history lead me to pursue studies towards the PhD. I have spent years looking through documents at the Guyana National Archives, at the British National Archives, and at the School of Oriental and African Studies – home of the Archives of the London Missionary Society. Because of my familiarity with that period of our history, I would argue that there is a lot more to discover with regards to the structure that evolved – which I would say without doubt was geared to keep the African Population Landless.

What began in the 1820s as a means of ensuring that all labor was available for plantation work, soon became a system that used control over land as the means of labor control. This later evolved to become a culture of control. Before I go on to give you some of the insights into the land policies as they evolved, permit me to encourage you not to make the same error of successive governments, in sweeping this history under the table. It would be highly regrettable if this commission were to leave these fundamental issues untouched and unresolved.

The answer to the dilemma that we face lies in the structure of our history. Let us briefly examine salient aspects of the history between the abolition of the slave trade in 1806 and the global sugar crisis of the 1880s. I call this period, the Sugar Revolution.

The Sugar Revolution and the labor/land market: 1806 and beyond

It is pertinent that I begin this section with a passage taken from Alan Younge’s, approaches to Local Self Government in British Guiana, published in 1958. Younge (1958:10) noted that,

“In British Guiana, where unoccupied land was available in vast quantities, land policy, private and official, was carefully shaped towards keeping the Negro landless. On the official side, measures were introduced to prevent both the illegal and the legitimate use of Crown Lands by the Negroes.”

Younge goes on to give details about the vagrancy laws, and other statutes through which the enslaved and former slaves were to be kept landless. Other scholars, namely Alvin Thompson (2002, 2006) and Emilia DaCosta (1994) gave as much details as available in the archives to show the extent to which planters and the colonial state went to prevent, destroy, and obliterate occupation of lands by runaway slaves.

Unlike other parts of the Americas, British Guiana was the only colony in the Caribbean where runaway communities were completely obliterated, and where the African population have been denied access to the lands occupied albeit illegally by their ancestors who were fighting freedom and independence from the hazards, and from physical and mental slavery of plantation life. I think it would be necessary for this commission to at least acknowledge this historical travesty.

Another historical travesty that should come under your consideration for acknowledgement were the roadblocks placed in the path of the enslaved to effectively use the right to cultivate garden plots and provision grounds as the law stipulated. The statute that outlined the requirement for provision ground allocation were not honored in the letter and spirit of the law. It was honored in the breach.

In the period immediately following the abolition of the slave trade, British Guiana found itself in dire straits, it had approximately 100,000 enslaved individuals, when its land endowment necessitated that it should have had more than 2 million. As a means of resolving this dilemma, the colonial enterprise opted for a one crop economy, cotton and coffee was jettisoned, plantations were consolidated, and all available labor were herded to meet the demands of the sugar industry.

Rather than diversify the economy, the planter class and the colonial office decided that sugar was to be the crop of choice. Against all odds, British Guiana opted for access to the global sugar market. The sugar economy required all hands-on deck. The colony of British Guiana became part of the global spiral, where production of single commodities was driven by increased regimentation of slave labour.

British Guiana joined other one crop colonies such as Mauritius and Cuba in a new global competition to produce sugar to fuel industrialisation, as Mercantile Capitalism was beginning to give way to the free market. In the same vein, the United States South became the primary producer of Cotton, and the Paraiba Valley in Brazil became the premier producer and supplier of coffee. British Guiana was not a blank slate, its history from thereon was being written, as its economy and internal arrangements were shaped to meet the demands of global competition for sugar. This is what I call the sugar revolution.

Honourable commissioners, everything that followed, was subject to the demands of global competition for sugar. This is why runaway communities were obliterated, and why garden plots and provision ground cultivation almost disappeared (Da Costa, 55). I make these points to lay the basis for you to understand the mindset within which post emancipation land policy was shaped. Post-emancipation land policies were interconnected to labor policy.

It is incumbent on this commission to delve into the complex interplay, in order to figure out the role labor policy played in the erection of land policy, and how these served to keep land away from the African population during the period of the sugar revolution. And consequently, the role land policy played in the rise of the rice industry, and hence the disparity that exist between Africans and East Indians with respect to land ownership and occupation.

To be continued….

Source: ResearchGate

Link to Original article

A huge human drama’: how the revolt that began on the Gladstone plantation led to emancipation

(The Guardian) The Demerara Rebellion failed, but it was a step towards ending slavery in the British empire

The Demerara Rebellion of August 1823 was a pivotal event in the abolition of slavery in the British Empire.

While the transatlantic slave trade, the largest forced migration in human history, was outlawed by Britain in 1807, slavery continued across the colonies. Conditions were brutal in Demerara, one of three provinces that made up British Guiana, where sugar plantations were among the most profitable in the world.

Nigel Westmaas, professor in Africana Studies at Hamilton College, New York, said: “In Demerara the sugar regime was extremely harsh. The cutting of the crop required huge numbers of labourers, who would wake at dawn or even earlier and carry out backbreaking work in the sun with a whip on their back.”

They worked barefoot and endured terrible conditions, he said. “There was terrible pain, suffering and isolation, families were split up and sold. It was horrendous.”

Rape, violence and brandings were daily occurrences. African culture was suppressed, life expectancy short.

The rebellion began on John Gladstone’s plantation Success, with the peaceful goal of securing better working conditions. Led by enslaved African Jack Gladstone, it quickly spread across the province and eventually about 13,000 Africans rose up on 60 plantations.

Although few of the white planters were harmed, the revolt was met with brutal repression. On 20 August, 200 enslaved Africans were killed by British soldiers under the command of Lt Col John Leahy, a veteran of the Napoleonic wars. He ordered his troops to open fire when 2,000 rebels refused to disperse, an event that turned the tide against the rebels.

Jack’s father, Quamina, was captured, killed and hung in chains outside the plantation. Others were tortured to death and decapitated, their heads speared on to poles as a warning to others. Jack was spared and exiled to St Lucia, but no record of his arriving there has been found.

An English missionary, John Smith, was convicted of assisting the revolt and sentenced to death. He died in prison while awaiting execution.

Westmaas said: “As a Guyanese I am immensely amazed and proud of the actions in the Demerara Rebellion. It’s a huge human drama. To have anything from 9,000 to 13,000 people rise up in plantations, given the conditions, was a tremendous feat of planning and endurance.”

The 1823 rebellion, and a later revolt in Jamaica in 1831, are thought to have persuaded the British government that slavery was no longer practicable. Emancipation followed in 1833.

Read more

Guyana Land Tenure Problems Pt III ‘Proprietary and Communal Villages’- Dr. Wazir Mohamed

Beginning in 1839, two types of villages (the village movement) emerged, the communal (independent) and proprietary (semi-independent) villages. The growth of these two types of villages evolved in the aftermath of the reaction of the former enslaved Africans to the draconian approach of the planter class which wanted to establish labor control through attachment to plantation housing and provision grounds. The ex-slaves not only rejected this approach, but petitioned the Governor (Editorial, The Royal Gazette, May 23, 1840) for the right to obtain leases to huts and provision grounds and some of them went further and pooled their resources to buy land which had become available as plantations were being abandoned.

The proprietary villages were established on the front lands of the plantations, invariably between the sea dam, the public road and the beginning of inland cultivation.6 These were founded as a means of continuing their attachments as laborers to particular plantations, while they mediated their independence through ownership of land. Contextually the pieces of land sold to the African population can be considered a negotiated space of freedom and independence (foremost Anthropologist of the Caribbean Peasantries, Sydney Mintz, described this phenomenon, which is endemic to the Caribbean as the space of on-going resistance and accommodation).

These villages served several purposes. First, they answered the demand of the former enslaved who wanted to own the huts and land on which they had lived as enslaved people for several decades. Second, it met their needs for sustenance as laborers on the plantations on which they had established independent residences. Third, they met the need of the planter class who wanted to attract and make secure labor arrangements. Fourth, it broke the character and culture of the earlier arrangement which had tied laborers in a continuous chattel type dispensation and offered relative comfort to both classes on any given plantation. Further, this arrangement allowed the enterprising planter to dispose of already useless land for the purpose of housing the labor needed for the plantation.7 This arrangement also brought much needed capital and labor to the plantation.8

By 1841 this movement had affected no less than eighteen plantations on the Essequibo and countless more in Demerara and Berbice.9 In Demerara proprietary villages were established at Providence, Craig, Supply, Brickery, Toevlugt, La Retraite, San Souci, Studley Park in Canal No. 1, Den Amstel, Good Hope, and Ruby.10 In Berbice proprietary villages were established at Sisters, Cumberland, Eliza and Mary, and Skeldon.11 On all of these plantations individual titles or deeds to the land were given to those ex-slaves who had purchased these properties.

Like the proprietary villages, the communal villages also began to come on stream in 1839. According to Alan Young (1958: 12) the impetus for these villages arose out of the “desire of the free laborers to turn their knowledge of cane-farming to their own account.” Because cane- farming required more land than the small plots the proprietary arrangement afforded, the free laborers turned to the abandoned plantations. In many parts of the country the African Population pooled their resources and purchased abandoned plantations which had come on the market as a result of the changed approach of some members of the planter class. Like the proprietary villages, these communal purchases were also related to the new position of the planter class to permit the former enslaved to own freeholds on or in the vicinity of existing plantations as a means of attracting their labor power.

The first such purchase of plantation Northbrook on the East Coast Demerara was carried out by eighty three (83) laborers in November 1839 who worked on the neighbouring estates of Douchfour, Ann’s Grove, Hope, Paradise, and Enmore, combined their resources and purchased this property, which was one of the first Cotton plantation to be abandoned. 12 This was soon followed in 1840 by the purchase of four more abandoned estates by laborers on West Coast Berbice. Plantation Golden Grove was purchased by fourteen (14) laborers, plantation St. John by forty six (46) labourers, plantation Perseverance by one hundred and nine (109) labourers, and plantation Lichfield by one (1) labourer, Cudjoe McPherson. In the case of the former estate of Lichfield, it was subdivided into twelve (12) shares and sold immediately after purchase.13

In the aftermath of these purchases, the villages became an important source of inspiration and served as anchors for the aspiration of independence for all other freed peoples who maintained residency on plantations. In the case of the first communal villages established, namely Victoria and Buxton the front lands were converted into homestead plots, while the backlands were being developed as a joint cultivation ground for the enrichment of the original shareholders.14 In effect joint cultivation represented the beginning of the process of collective farming. Each of these original communal purchases began in earnest to function as separate cooperatives with the possibility of dividends accruing to each shareholder.15 It is my hope that the honorable commissioners would spend some time to ponder, and to ask the question if what, or what would have been the likely outcome for the African population if joint cultivation was supported by the colonial state.

It is necessary that we recall that the process of collective farming was short-lived as the black working class, who had remained in Estate residency, were defeated in the sugar strike of 1847-48. This resulted in a massive migration from estate residency into the villages, which became overcrowded. The largest villages of Victoria, Buxton, Beterverwagting, and Plaisance bore the brunt

Preliminary Conclusions and Recommendations UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) Second Session, 30 May – 2 June 2023, New York City, USA

The United Nations Permanent Forum of People of African Descent (PFPAD) held its
second annual session from 30 May – 2 June 2023 at the United Nations Headquarters
in New York City. Its overarching theme was “Realizing the Dream: A UN
Declaration on the promotion, protection and full respect of the human rights of
people of African descent.” In addition to the opening of the second session and the
general debate, five thematic discussions were held, including: Global Reparatory
Justice; Pan-Africanism for Dignity, Justice, and Peace; Transnational Migration;
Recognizing and Addressing Systemic and Structural Racism—A Data-Driven and
Evidence-Based Approach; and Health, Well-Being, and Intergenerational Trauma. The
event was attended by Member States, United Nations entities and approximately 900
civil society representatives from more than 85countries, and other stakeholders from
across the world participating in person and online. In addition, more than 60 side events
were held. The Permanent Forum expresses its appreciation to all participants, their
contributions to the conversations, conclusions and recommendations.The Permanent Forum extends its thanks to all the high-level dignitaries who
participated in the session: H.E. Mr. Csaba Kőrösi, President of the General Assembly;
H.E. António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations; H.E. Ilze Brands
Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights; H.E. Mr. Václav Bálek,
President of the Human Rights Council; H.E. Volker Türk, United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights; H.E. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of the
United Nations Population Fund; H.E. Mr. Lula da Silva, President of Brazil; H.E.
Francia Marquez, Vice President of Colombia; H.E. Ms. Anielle Franco, Minister of
Racial Equality of Brazil; H.E. Dr. Silvio Almeida, Minister of Human Rights and
Citizenship of Brazil; H.E. Mr. Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Housing and Diversity and
Inclusion, Canada; H.E. Ms. Oneidge Waldrond, M.P., Minister of Tourism, Industry
and Commerce, Guyana; H.E. Dr. Amery Browne, Minister of Foreign and CARICOM
Affairs, Trinidad and Tobago; H.E. Mr. Michael Stanley Regan, Administrator of the

United States of America Environmental Protection Agency; Honourable Sheila
Jackson Lee, Congresswoman at the United States of America House of
Representatives; and Ms. Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General for Social and
Human Sciences at UNESCO.

The following conclusions and recommendations are preliminary in nature. Together
with the proceedings of the first session, they will form the basis of a combined report
to the 54th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, the 78th Session of the UN
General Assembly, and will also be shared with civil society and other relevant
stakeholders across the world

Preliminary-Conclusions-and-RecommendationsDownload

Permanent Forum: Preparatory meeting with IDPADA-G Member Organizations held Sunday, November 20, 2022.

The International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly- Guyana (IDPADA-G) participated in the First Session of the Permanent Forum for People of African Descent (PFPAD) from 5-8 December 2022 in Geneva.

Prior to the attendance of two representatives, a Preparatory Meeting to the First Session of the Permanent Forum on the International Decade for People of African Descent to IDPADA-G with member organisations was convened to gather concrete recommendations to take forward to the Geneva meeting.

  1. Guided by the November 20th Preparatory Meeting with member organizations, IDPADA-G made the following intervention and recommendations:
  • Links to the video of the Opening and Closing sessions Permanent Forum for People of African Descent

Click here to view the opening session

 Click here to view the closing session

Statement and recommendations from IDPADA-G Preparatory Meeting

I speak on behalf of the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly—Guyana (IDPADA-G) established in 2017 by an assembly of African Guyanese civil society organizations, with the support of the then government, to serve as Guyana’s Country Coordinating Mechanism for the UN Decade for People of African Descent. Sixty-five (65) African Guyanese organizations from across Guyana form IDPADA-G’s General Assembly and focus its work on addressing equitable treatment of and reparative justice for African Guyanese.  This intervention draws on a preparatory meeting held on November 20 in which community leaders put forward the

concerns they wished to be brought to this body.

The history and politics of the current political regime does not bestow confidence. They have not acknowledged the plight of the African Guyanese and in pursuit of their own interest, largely ethnic, they have shown scant regard for the lives and livelihood of African Guyanese. Extra-judicial killings, corruption and the narco-trade have trumped justice, good governance and legitimate wealth creation.

Under this regime, the member organizations of IDPADA-G are concerned that no specific attention, as the Decade calls for, is being paid to the state

of Guyanese of African descent. On the contrary, the policies of the state are

further entrenching and escalating the dire state of African descendants in

Guyana.

The disproportionately large size of the oil and gas sector in relation to the rest of the nation’s economy, the historically structured inequalities in resource allocation and wealth creation, combined with race-based politics in Guyana have contributed to an exponentially widening economic gap between Africans and others in the Guyanese economy.  African Guyanese have been marginalized – – kept out of the oil and gas sector and deprived of significant contracting opportunities, mining, logging and other natural

resource concessions, in addition to being forced out of the public sector and shut out of the private sector in deference to an Indo-Guyanese oligarchy.  In two short years, through a ruthless and systematic racist attack on landownership and tenure, mining concessions, employment, contract awards, African Guyanese now control less than 8% of the nation’s productive sectors and are being relegated to the margins of Guyana’s burgeoning economy.

At the Preparatory meeting, the member organizations jointly crafted the community’s message and recommendations to this body to address the issues confronting African communities, and specifically African Guyanese. They recommend the formulation of policies that demand:

ECONOMIC EQUITY – disaggregated data collection and protection of land ownership

Recommendation I: Collection of disaggregated data and/or ethnic disparity audits

as the basis for developing policies and programmes targeted at improving the lives of

African descendant people

Recommendation II: Special procedures at the level of the UN to ensure the protection of land ownership, compensatory measures for land unjustly dispossessed of and return of land under illegal possession.

EQUAL AND FAIR TREATMENT UNDER THE LAW – Increased Oversight and Monitoring

Recommendation III: The establishment of national oversight and monitoring agencies (in Guyana and other similarly affected states) to ensure government respects the Human Rights of People of African Descent and adheres to all established affirmative action and equity policies.

A video detailing the current status of African Guyanese was launched at our side event on November 30, 2022.  It is available to view at:  https://idpada-g.gy/permanentforum/

A FINAL NOTE ON THE CURRENT STATUS OF IDPADA-G

Each  year  since  2018,  Guyana’s  Parliament  had  approved  a  modest subvention (grant) to support IDPADA-G’s work – a grant initiated by the

previous  government and  continued  since  2020  under  the  new  regime. However, in September of this year, without notice or clear cause and in spite of the approved Parliamentary allocation for 2022, the government of Guyana ceased disbursing the monthly payment of the grant funds resulting in the curtailment of the work of IDPADA-G, an organization dedicated to the goals of the Decade.  IDPADA-G brings this to the attention of this body and calls on all here present to register support for the continued funding of an agency with a proven record of successful programs focused on achieving the goals of the Decade.

Our community is thankful for the opportunity to bring our plight to the

attention of the UN Permanent Forum for People of African Descent.

December 5, 2022

United Nations, Geneva

IDPADA-G CREDIT UNION

The IDPADA-G Credit Union was registered on February 7, 2020. The Credit Union, by law, is required to convene its first general members meeting within one month of registration. However, due to preventative measures in place to stem the spread of COVID-19, the Credit Union has postponed scheduling its inaugural General Meeting. Members will be informed as soon as it is safe to convene the meeting. 

At the inaugural meeting, members will ratify policies for the operation of the society and elect officers to serve on the management committee for the first year of operations. The current membership stands at eight hundred and fourteen persons from all coastal regions of Guyana, and Region 7.

Address of His Excellency Brigadier David Granger President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana to the Inaugural General Meeting of the Cooperative Credit Union of the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly ─ Guyana 2020.06.02

Cooperative credit unions and economic empowerment

The General Assembly of the United Nations designated the decade 1st January 2015 to 31st December 2024 as the International Decade for the People of African Descent [via Resolution 68/237 of 23rd December 2013] and adopted a Programme of activities for the implementation of the International Decade for People of African Descent [by Resolution 69/16 of 18th November 2014].
Given that the Decade is expected to last 3, 652 days, 1,979 days have elapsed and 1,673 days remain. The mid-point of the decade passed on 31st December 2019.
The ‘International Decade’ acknowledges that Africans were the victims of the greatest crime against humanity and continue to suffer from dispossession, discrimination and intergenerational poverty. The ‘International Decade’ recognises that people of African descent have not yet fully overcome the legacy of colonial underdevelopment which continues to contribute to their present condition.

The Programme of Activities, proposed by the United Nations, rests on 3 pillars – recognition, justice and development. The ‘Programme’ recognizes that poverty is both a cause and consequence of discrimination. It urged that states should take appropriate steps to: “… strengthen national programmes for eradicating poverty and reducing social exclusion that take account of the specific needs and experiences of people of African descent…”

I proposed a five-point Plan of Action for the International Decade, in my address to the Cuffy 250 Forum in August 2016. I urged that the ‘Plan’ include efforts aimed at African economic empowerment.

The registration of a Cooperative Credit Union, by the International Decade of People of African Descent Assembly – Guyana, is a step in the direction of economic empowerment and eradicating poverty. It is in accordance with the objectives declared in the Programme of Activities of the ‘International Decade’ and with the five-point ‘Plan’ which I had proposed in 2016.

Cooperative credit banks existed in British Guiana over a century ago. These institutions first emerged in response to African subsistence farmers’ need for loans.

The ‘old model’ cooperative credit banks catered primarily for small loans for small-scale agricultural production and for meeting basic household and emergency needs. The ‘old model’ did serve the purpose for which it was intended. A ‘new model’ is needed to become an engine of economic development.

History records that Africans embarked on a quest for economic emancipation 182 years ago. They sought a better life for themselves and their children away from the oppressive plantation system.

The Great Village Movement started on 7th November 1839, a mere one year after Emancipation. This initial transaction triggered other purchases and led to the Great Village Movement which has been described as:
“…the most spectacular and aggressive land settlement movement in the history of the people of the British Caribbean and a movement which seemed to one planter in British Guiana to be certainly without parallel in the history of the world!”

More than two out of every three Guyanese still live in villages. Most African-Guyanese still live in over a hundred villages which are the inheritance bequeathed by Emancipated Africans to their progeny. Their descendants, today, protect and promote the economic development of these villages and the livelihood of their residents. Guyanese, still by and large belong to villages.

The early proprietors faced formidable obstacles in their pursuit of economic empowerment, however. They expended exorbitant amounts of cash for the abandoned plantations. This left them exposed to oppressive colonial taxes and unable to meet the expenses of infrastructural development, such as drainage and irrigation.

Water-borne disease such as cholera also took a deadly toll added to which many villagers suffered from economic exhaustion and a lack of financial capital.

African economic empowerment was aided by their willingness to enter ‘collective’ (not ‘cooperative’) ventures and by their proclivity for thrift and savings. Some came together, pooled their resources and purchased, collectively, abandoned plantations on which they established homes, churches and farmsteads.

These were ‘communal’ villages where the property was allocated by agreement in shares. There were, also, ‘proprietary’ villages in which each purchaser owned his own property.

Africans left a proud tradition of frugality and thrift. Their capacity and propensity to save allowed them to overcome the lack of access to capital. Some retained the ancestral tradition of raising funds through informal schemes such as ‘box-hand’ in an effort to circumvent the difficulties in sourcing funds from formal banking institutions.

Savings is a basis of investment. Financial institutions utilize savings to lend. There can be no lending and no investment without savings. Savings, however, were never going to be sufficient to drive economic enterprise after Emancipation. The needs of the peasantry demanded easier access to financial capital.

Africans pioneered cooperative credit banks at the village level in order to raise funds for economic activities. These early cooperative credit banks were patterned after the Raiffeisen Banks of Austria which had come to the attention of James Mc Farlane Corry, the convener of the first Village Chairmen’s Conference and who served as its Chairman from 1904 to 1924.

Corry, at that time, ever serious and studious, became aware of the functioning of ‘Raiffeisen’ banks in Austria. These banks were founded by Friederich Wilhelm Raiffeisen and provided small loans, at low rates, for designated purposes, to worthy members of the German agrarian population.

Corry thought it would be good for local small farmers in British Guiana to have access to similar sources of credit. He brought the idea to the notice of the Village Chairmen’s Conference in August 1904, admitting that he knew nothing of how such banks actually functioned.

Certain members of Victoria Village modified the proposed plan to suit their local conditions and, in August 1905, started the first local Co-operative Credit Bank. Rose Hall and Buxton Villages, among others, followed. The banks were predicated on self-help and grassroots membership.

The fortunes of the cooperative credit banks, however, were tied to the economic fortunes of their members, principally, poor, peasant farmers. Agricultural crop failures – caused by droughts and floods – resulted in many of these farmers being unable to pay their debts to the banks.

Cooperative credit banks collapsed by 1912, but were revived in 1914 under an arrangement which allowed for government loans and legislation was passed to regulate the banks’ supervision, management and shareholding. More prudential lending was employed during this period of restoration. These changes had a profound impact on cooperative credit banks:
– the number of such banks increased from 3 in 1915 to 27 by 1920;
– the number of shareholders expanded from 280 to more than 9,000 over the corresponding period;
– the banks’ paid up capital expanded more than 100-fold over this period; and
– the banks’ membership was expanded to include non-Africans.
Cooperative credit banks were established across the country’s villages. Banks were established:
– in the county of Berbice (at Abary, Block, El Dorado, Expectation, Hopetown, Lichfield and Skeldon);
– in the county of Essequibo (at Essequibo North, Essequibo South, Leguan, North-West District and Wakenaam); and,
– in the county of Demerara(at Beterverwagting-Triumph, Buxton- Friendship, Canal No. 1 Polder, Den Amstel-

Fellowship, Georgetown, Goed Intent-Sisters, Goedverwagting, Golden Grove-Nabacalis, Mahaicony, Plaisance-Sparendaam, Supply-Mahaica, Vergenoegen, Victoria-Belfied and Vreed-en-Hoop).

Cooperative credit banks did much good work in saving small farmers from loan sharks and assorted money-lenders.

They assisted them to overcome the vagaries and the inevitable difficult periods which afflict peasant farming on the coastland. Cooperative credit unions provided support to households and for small-scale economic ventures.
The early cooperative credit banks were strongly tied to the communities. Their shareholders were drawn predominantly from the working class. They encouraged both lending and savings. They were an instrument of economic empowerment.

These cooperative credit banks were integrated into African communities, their shareholders were broad-based and multi-ethnic and they provided loans, at low interest rates, for economic ventures at the level of the village. Cooperative credit banks encouraged not only lending but also savings.

Cooperative credit banks bequeathed a model of a financial institutions geared towards providing funding for personal, family and household needs and in support of subsistence and small-scale economic activity.

The model, however, never became a major driver of economic enterprise. It is unsuited to the demands of modern competitive industrial and manufacturing business development and needs to be replaced by a new model.

Cooperative credit unions were the successors of the cooperative credit banks. The cooperative credit unions have declined, with only 30 such institutions existing as at October 2019. Credit unions today account for slightly more than 24,000 members with estimated assets of US$28.9M.

The ‘new model’ of cooperative credit unions must become an engine of enterprise development. Cooperative credit unions should graduate beyond catering only for elementary stage of development – the provision of personal and subsistence loans. The ‘new model’, I suggest, should cater for four stages of economic enterprise development:
– traditional or subsistence stage;
– commercial or retailstage;
– industrial or manufacturing stage; and
– internationally-competitive stage

Cooperative credit unions should aim at financing not only small-scale agriculture, agro-processing and craft ventures but also commercial enterprises – the second stage of development. The third stage of development – the industrial stage – would involve the provision of capital for industrial development. The fourth stage would result in cooperative credit union providing support for the production of internationally- competitive commodities.

The ambition of new model should be to provide financial services from the level of the small farmer and household, right up to the level of industry. Financing is needed at the levels of micro-, small- and medium-scale enterprises, particularly in the agriculture and agro-processing sector.

Government has launched a number of initiatives aimed at stimulating these sectors. The G$50M agro-processing plant at Parika, Essequibo Islands-West Demerara Region, was established in March 2020. The investment allows for the processing of 130 kg of produce per hour, benefits some 100 small farmers and provides employment for 20 persons.

The Regional Agricultural and Commercial Exhibitions (RACE) has become a catalyst for economic diversification led by micro, small- and medium scale enterprises. The Rural Entrepreneurial Agricultural Project (REAP) aims to revitalize rural village economies.

The ‘new model’ which I propose, envisages cooperative credits union as financial institutions with increasing assets, reserves, savings and shareholdings. The model is one which would see shareholding and savings widened and with a more diversified lending portfolio. All of this would necessitate legislative and regulatory changes.

The ‘new model’ is necessary for economic empowerment. Its development for the remaining years of the International Decade of People of African Descent.

I urge the International Decade of People of African Descent Assembly – Guyana to consider carefully the adoption of a new model of cooperative credit unions that will not be marginalized within the overall financial sector but which has the potential to compete eventually with the formal financial sector and to stimulate enterprise development at the subsistence, commercial, industrial and internationally- competitive stages.

I commend the International Decade of People of African Descent Assembly – Guyana on the establishment of the Cooperative Credit Union. The credit union is one of the many projects which will be undertaken by the Assembly but it has special significance for local economic empowerment.

I congratulate the Union on its inaugural General Meeting. I wish it every success, beyond 2024 and for decades to come. I thank you.

‘Break barriers’

…President urges IDPADA-G Co-operative Credit Union
…says body must adopt new model for economic enterprise

By Lisa Hamilton

President David Granger has challenged the Co-operative Credit Union of International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly – Guyana (IDPADA-G) to adopt a new model of operation which would enable it to becoming competitive with the formal financial sector.

At the First General Members Meeting of the IDPADA-G Co-operative Credit Union held via zoom on Tuesday, as keynote speaker, the Guyanese leader proposed a four-stage model for the transformation of the Credit Union into an engine of enterprise development.

The Co-operative Credit Union was registered on February 7, 2020 as a means to provide alternative options to African Guyanese which IDPADA-G believes have been affected by credit and financial support services skewed against them.

In his remarks, President Granger established that the United Nations (UN), in declaring 2015-2024 as IDPAD, openly recognized that Africans were the victims of the greatest crimes against humanity and have not yet overcome the legacy of colonial oppression and underdevelopment. It was in 2016, at the Cuffy 250 forum, that the President recommended a five-point plan for the Decade in Guyana which included African economic empowerment, one of the inspirations of IDPADA-G to launch the Credit Union.

However, the Head of State said that the old model of economic empowerment through Co-operative Credit banks and unions have served its purpose and the future demands a new model which drives enterprise development.

QUEST FOR ECONOMIC EMANCIPATION

Explaining further the perspective, President Granger said that the history of co-operative credit banks in Guyana — which existed over a century ago — emerged to meet the loan needs of African subsistent farmers and African basic household and emergency needs. He said that it was a “quest for economic emancipation” for a better life away from the oppressive plantation system and led to the Great Village Movement.

However, he said the early proprietors of African villages faced “formidable obstacles” in their pursuit of economic empowerment suffering, as a result, from economic exhaustion and lack of financial capital.

They then entered into collective ventures pooling their resources to purchase abandoned plantations for the establishments of homes, farms and churches with properties being allocated by shares or, in the cases of proprietary villages, there were arrangements for each person to own their own property.

“Africans left a proud tradition of frugality and thrift. Their capacity and propensity to save allowed them to overcome the lack of access to capital. Some retained the ancestral tradition of raising funds through informal schemes such as ‘box-hand’ in an effort to circumvent the difficulties in sourcing funds from formal banking institutions,” the President said.

When this proved insufficient to support economic activities, they turned to co-operative credit banks establishing them in several villages. Regrettably, the fortune of these banks were tied to the economic fortunes of their members who the President reminded were “principally, poor, peasant farmers”. It led to the collapse of the co-operative credit bank by 1912 but a revival in 1914 allowing for government loans and greater regulation.

Even so, President Granger said that though the co-operative credit banks saved small farmers from “loan sharks and assorted money-lenders”, it never became a major driver of economic enterprise. It was unsuited for modern competitive industrial and manufacturing business development. Cooperative credit unions were the successors of the cooperative credit banks but he said that only 30 such institutions existed as of October 2019 with a little over 24,000 members with estimated assets of US$28.9M.

A NEW MODEL NEEDED

The Head of Sate put forward that modern-day African economic empowerment in Guyana demands a ‘new model’ of cooperative credit unions. He said that this model must move beyond catering only for elementary stage of development —- the provision of personal and subsistence loans — to an engine of enterprise development.

He outlined these four stages as moving from the traditional or subsistent stage to the commercial or retail stage to the industrial or manufacturing stage and then the internationally competitive stage. “The ambition of new model should be to provide financial services from the level of the small farmer and household, right up to the level of industry. Financing is needed at the levels of micro-, small- and medium-scale enterprises, particularly in the agriculture and agro-processing sector,” the President advised.

“The ‘new model’ which I propose, envisages cooperative credits union as financial institutions with increasing assets, reserves, savings and shareholdings. The model is one which would see shareholding and savings widened and with a more diversified lending portfolio. All of this would necessitate legislative and regulatory changes. The ‘new model’ is necessary for economic empowerment. Its development is propitious for the remaining years of the International Decade of People of African Descent.”

He also pointed to a number of government initiatives such as the $50M agro-processing plant at Parika; the Regional Agricultural and Commercial Exhibitions (RACE); the Rural Entrepreneurial Agricultural Project (REAP) which can be sources for investment, sources through which many Guyanese are forming their own businesses.

He urged the IDPADA-G Co-operative Credit Union to carefully consider the adoption of the new model for it would give the Union the potential to compete with the formal financial sector. However, as it embarks on its new journey, the President said that he looks forward to joining the Credit Union.

During the First Meeting, remarks also came from Chairman of the Coordinating Council of IDPADA-G, Vincent Alexander who thanked those who played key roles in the formation of the Credit Union. He said that the Credit Union will work towards setting an example for good governance.

“The fact that we’re having this meeting signals our intention, here on, to ensure that the manner of conduct of our business is in keeping with the requirements and reflects best practices. IDPADA-G and all of its arms are intended to be an example to the community so that all other organisations can walk in our footsteps as we seek to achieve the goals of the decade,” Alexander stated. Chair of the IDPADA-G Co-operative Credit Union Steering Committee, Shamane Headley said that close to 1,000 persons that have already purchased shares in the Union.

Source: Guyana Chronicle | Lisa Hamiton

‘Be Ambassadors of Peace in the Midst of Violence’

5 young students caught in a violent protest- these are their stories beyond their injuries.

On March 19th 2020, members of the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana travelled to various villages in Region 5, Mahaica-Berbice, to lend support to the families of children affected by the March 6th protest in Bath Settlement. The protest, related to what was termed, ‘the delay in the release of the 2020 Election Results’, targeted a state owned school bus transporting students predominantly of African descent and resulted in five (5) of these students between the ages of 13-16, sustaining physical injuries to their heads and other parts of their bodies. The psychological trauma suffered by the students remains largely unknown.  During the visit, household supplies were presented to the families and tablets were given to the students to aid the completion of their schoolwork from home.

The students, each with their own stories, dreams and talents, made an excellent impression on the visiting team. One female student when asked what she wanted to become, boldly proclaimed- a doctor! Her mother, a healthcare professional, laughed and nodded supportively after the pronouncement. The young lady then disappeared into her home and emerged again carrying her report card. She showed the team how she performed exceptionally at school and had secured first place on several occasions including her last round of examinations. She also explained how she liked to participate in school activities and served as class prefect. The IDPADA-G team affirmed the young lady by greeting her using the term ‘Doctor’ and encouraged her to persevere in the pursuance of her goals.

When the team arrived at the home of one of the youngest students affected, her younger brother and sister looked on curiously. The student relayed to us that although she was terrified shortly after the incident, she was now able to go about her days with some normalcy. Her mother, an educator, recalled being in shock upon receiving the news about what happened to her daughter. She thought about all the children in her care, how they were of various ethnicities and she had endeavoured to treat them all fairly, yet her daughter suffered this fate. After the incident however, she still remains resolute that she will continue to discharge her duties as per normal and will not allow hate or fear to affect her work.

Amidst the brilliant young ladies visited, there was a sole exceptional young man. Very reserved and soft-spoken, never meeting the gazes of the visitors as he listened to why they ventured to see him. It wasn’t until they inquired about the impressive vegetable garden in front of his home, that he became at ease. He sprang up from his sitting position and proceeded to offer a tour through his garden. He explained that he loved to spend his time caring for his crops and spoke about his plan to grow more food to sustain his household. The team inquired if agriculture was also his career goal, to which he responded in the affirmative. Although he is some years away from completing secondary school, he does aim to enrol at the Guyana School of Agriculture.

The penultimate visit was to the home of a police officer who had worked tirelessly over the days following the Election to ensure that order prevailed and the security of citizens remained uncompromised. He was not able however, to shield his daughter from the protest action that unfolded. He recalled how his daughter returned home drenched in her own blood after refusing to be taken to the hospital for fear that she would suffer further harm on her way there. Her mother explained how she immediately became her daughter’s doctor, removing pieces of broken glass from her face. The daughter, with her pleasant demeanour said that she felt safer at home. When asked about her career choice, to the team’s surprise, this brave young lady explained that she wanted to become a soldier because she wanted to protect others. Even after such a traumatic event- she still retained her love for humanity.

The final visit was to the home of another aspiring doctor, specifically- a paediatrician. Her love for children, coupled with her love for science has motivated this career choice. She recalled receiving a blow to the head during the incident and becoming unconscious. She feels fortunate to be alive and wants to use her skills to impact the lives of others positively. Her father indicated that he takes the education of his daughters very seriously. He wants them to have all the opportunities that he didn’t and therefore puts his various talents to work to provide for his family. The list of services that he offers advertised outside of his home spoke volumes about his level of commitment to this purpose.

The final visit was to the home of another aspiring doctor, specifically- a paediatrician. Her love for children, coupled with her love for science has motivated this career choice. She recalled receiving a blow to the head during the incident and becoming unconscious. She feels fortunate to be alive and wants to use her skills to impact the lives of others positively. Her father indicated that he takes the education of his daughters very seriously. He wants them to have all the opportunities that he didn’t and therefore puts his various talents to work to provide for his family. The list of services that he offers advertised outside of his home spoke volumes about his level of commitment to this purpose.

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