ROWLEY JUMPS ON THE REPARATIONS CAUSE

PRIME Minister Dr. Keith Rowley has suddenly jumped on the reparations hobby horse after neglecting the cause for years.

Rowley told Emancipation Day celebrations that Caricom would “forcefully” discuss the issue at October’s meeting of the Commonwealth.

But for several years, there was no local Reparations Commission to seek justice for the atrocity of chattel slavery.

Aiyegoro Ome, who once headed the local Reparations Commission, in April 2022 said the Prime Minister “continuously disrespected” the organisation.

 Ome said that “little has been done in spite of innumerable letters” from the commission.

He spoke of a previous “self-righteous pronouncement” by Rowley.

He stated that the Prime Minister “conveniently ignores” the 10-point plan, which not only embraces financial compensation and an apology.

The plan advocates for illiteracy eradication, public health assistance, education benefits, psychological rehabilitation, and technology transfer.

Ome said: “The PNM Government and its leadership have never had the matter of reparations high on their list of priorities.”

In his 2022 statement, he stressed that “the PNM has done too little to enhance the psychic state of T&T’s Africans, who continue to suffer from dysfunctions that put at a severe disadvantage against the other ethnic groups.”

Rowley’s relative lack of activity on reparations is in sharp contrast to that in several countries.

On Emancipation Day, the Jamaican Government hosted a major function at which British and other descendants of slave owners tearfully apologised for the cruelty and horror of their ancestors.

They pledged to work toward reparative action and to advocate the issue internationally.

Guyana’s President Dr. Irfaan Ali last year hit out against European slave traders and called for an apology “that paves the way for justice.”

Reparations are “a commitment to righting historical wrongs,” Ali said.

The aim, he stated, is to ensure that “future generations are unshackled from the chains of history.”

Some British families whose forebears benefitted from the trans-Atlantic slave trade have provided tangible support in Guyana, Grenada, Jamaica and other regional countries.

There has been no such assistance in T&T.

Rowley has been negligent on the issue except for his mechanical Emancipation Day statements.