Kamla vows to fight for reparations

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar greets members of the public as she leaves the Lidj Yasu Omowale Emancipation Village, Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain, on August 1. - Photo by Jeff K. Mayers

PRIME MINISTER Kamla Persad-Bissessar has promised to lead the charge in seeking reparations for the atrocities the African diaspora had experienced in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

She made the promise while addressing attendees, including delegates from Nigeria and Ghana, at the African Emancipation Day celebrations at Lidj Yasu Omowale Emancipation Village at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain, on August 1.

“I commit my voice. I commit my office. I commit every ounce of political capital to move up reparations from aspirations to achievement so our next generation inherits not just the memory of freedom, but the means to flourish in its fullness.

“With one voice, we must all demand reparatory justice now!”

Persad-Bissessar said she plans to re-empower the National Committee on Reparations, support Caricom’s charge to pursue debt relief, developmental financing and binding institutional reforms at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in October.

She also shared a four-point action plan to engender cultural guardianship, curriculum restoration, re-establishing trade links and development of the youth and food security.

For cultural guardianship she proposed the expansion of grants for drumming schools, mass camps, heritage archives and digital storytelling labs.

For curriculum restoration, she proposed to embed African civilisation, enslavement, resistance and Afro-TT achievement in the school syllabus.

For youth and food security Persad Bissessar said the government will look into ways to provide microcredit, crop insurance and export licences for young farmers.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar greets George Elombi, incoming president of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), at the Lidj Yasu Omowale Emancipation Village on August 1. - Photo by Jeff K. Mayers

She also said, for trade re-linkages she intended to finalise the Ghana air services agreement and launch a West Africa, Caribbean Special Economic Zone with a focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs). She said she also intended to list SMEs on both the TT and Lagos stock exchanges.

Incoming president of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) George Elombi in his remarks said the bank intends to double its allocations for the Caribbean to support TT in its efforts.

“(This) movement, Afreximbank has also been doing with 13 Caribbean states. We hope to make TT, the largest economy of this area, part of that movement.

“The approvals that Afreximbank has for the Caribbean is at US$1.5 billion ($10.16 billion). Right now, we have increased those approvals to US$3 billion ($20.32 billion) in order to accommodate the needs of TT, which we hope this large economy will be joining.

“We treat the words of the Minister of Trade that TT is open for business. Afreximbank is also open to take TT back home… so collectively we can defend our future,” Elombi said.

Persad-Bissessar, a long-standing advocate for reparations

Persad Bissessar said she has long been a supporter of seeking reparations for the atrocities of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

She commended the African diaspora for its journey from slavery to freedom, saying that TT’s democracy stands on that very struggle.

“On August 1 1938 our African foreparents – once priced on auction sheets – saw the first sunrise of lawful freedom.

“Their chains fell, yet their scars and spirits still whisper of torment and unassailable triumph.

“This evening, we stand on those indomitable shoulders not merely to remember, but to press forward, to bend the arc of justice yet again. For it was in the canefield shadows and barracoon darkness that – in their very blood, breaths, and bones – they drafted the first blueprint of our modern freedom and democracy.

“Our task now is to carry that torch farther into a future where no chain, visible or invisible, can ever dim its light.”

As such, she said the Emancipation Support Committee’s theme for this year’s Emancipation Celebrations – “Shaping Sustainable Futures through Reparatory Justice” – was not just a slogan but a call to action.

“A sustainable future demands that we act with precision, quantifying the wealth extracted from enslaved Africans and securing concrete financial, institutional and psychological remedies.

“It must mobilise collective action, uniting village councils, civil society, Caricom and the Commonwealth until former empires pay their moral debt

“It must harness cultural power, transforming sorrow into strategy; turning festival drums into policy and memory into momentum.

“In short, it fuses heritage with hope and remembrance with restitution, summoning us all to secure justice and shape sustainable tomorrows.”

She said she has a long track record that guides her resolve to continue to push forward the reparations agenda.

In 2013, as then-prime minister and chairperson of Caricom, she put reparations at the top of the regional agenda. That call won unanimous support from heads of government of Caricom and led to the creation of the TT National Reparations Committee under Sir Hilary Beckles.

From 2014-2015 Persad-Bissessar’s cabinet financed legal research, community consultations and archival autism to quantify the actual debt incurred during slavery.

She said, even when she was not in government she loaned her voice to the call for reparations, warning during Emancipation Day in 2022 that reparations are still essential to honour those who suffered under slavery and fought for liberation.

Traditional African drummers perform at the Lidj Yasu Omowale Emancipation Village, Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain, on August 1. - Photo by Jeff K. Mayers

She lauded the Emancipation Support Committee (ESCTT) for its continued work as cultural vanguards and economic bridge builders.

She said the ESCTT’s awards, lectures, films, school visits and heritage tours inspire youth and strengthen national unity. She also hailed the Trade and Investment Symposium for opening TT to African markets, sealing an airlink agreement with Nigeria, engaging in talks with Ghana and developing supply chains through Africa Business Group and the Afreximbank.

Former chairman of the Emancipation Support Committee Khafra Kambon was among several awardees at the Emancipation celebration’s award ceremony. He was celebrated for his commitment, dedication and leadership with a special Henry Sylvester Williams Award of Excellence.

Kambon has been well-known since 1970, when he was one of the leaders of the Black Power movement, an organisation that brought positive social and economic changes to TT and stimulated changes throughout the English-speaking Caribbean.

As an economist and managing director of Kaf Sha-Ra Services, a field research and data analysis company he has marshalled 30 years of experience in organisation building, social mobilisation, social and economic research and human resource management to support many initiatives including squatter regularisation, re-settlement and community development.

In speaking about Kambon, Persad-Bissessar described their long-standing relationship with each other.

“I remember when we walked around on the other side of Port of Spain. We joined a parade and I walked with you. We go back many days. Khafra has never let us down. He stays strong with us and in service of the people of TT.”

Three people were given the “Spirit of Emancipation” awards. Dianne Grant, Kelvin Green and Jennifer Grennidge-Belile were awarded for their community leadership, commitment and years of support in organising the annual commemoration of Emancipation Day.