The legacy of NJAC and Makandal Daaga

Many have been the well-deserving praises which have been showered on the late Makandal Daaga for his contribution to TT society since his passing, with some saying he had left “unfinished business” while others have described his legacy as “a dream deferred”.

It is useful to recall some of the principal demands/aims of Daaga and the NJAC leadership.

Among these were: (1) “Power to the people” (ie all the people).

(2) Transferring the “commanding heights of the economy” (including the commercial banks) to local hands.

(3) Greatly increased employment opportunities for all citizens.

(4) Removal of all facets of discrimination (including racial discrimination) from all strands of the society.

(5) National unity (especially among the two major races which comprised the population, both of which were being “exploited” by foreign “owners of capital”).

The course of events leading up to the actions of Dr Eric Williams and his Government in quelling the “disturbances” are well documented and ought not to detain us in arriving at an assessment of the extent of success or otherwise of Daaga and NJAC in their original pursuits.

Suffice it to be said that Williams and his Government recognised the justness and popularity of some of the demands of the protestors and sought to give positive effect to those which were politically acceptable, some of which were: (a) Setting up of the Workers’ Bank — a precursor of First Citizens Bank.

(b) Major expansion of the public sector, particularly by setting up a large plethora of Stateowned enterprises.

© Through mechanisms such as DEWD (Development and Environmental Works Division), providing short-term employment mainly for the unemployed and, basically, for the unemployable.

(d) In due course, Government ownership of the sugar industry (which had become unprofitable) and most of the oil and gas industry were to be added.

While the initiatives taken above may be said to owe their origin to the demands of Daaga and NJAC in the 1970 disturbances, one thing is clear: they had failed, even up to Daaga’s passing, to establish mechanisms for implementing the ideas which they had so forcefully propounded.

Indeed, they had, in my view, become a “rudderless ship”.

Furthermore, the major contributions of Daaga and the NJAC may be seen to have been their initial inspiring of the growth and expansion of the public and public enterprises sectors and a greater awareness of “Africanness” within the society.

One thing is also clear however: there has been no meaningful participation of the African in the ownership of the production and distribution sectors of an economy which is today hamstrung by negative productivity elements which have had their origin in the very short-term mechanisms which had been put in place to meet the demands of 1970. As well, the general efficacy of the public enterprises sector, in particular, is being called into question.

Finally, where are the constitutional provisions which are to arm the population with “power to the people”? Errol OC Cupid Trincity, Tacarigua