People's National Party President Portia Simpson Miller (left) and Opposition Leader Bruce Golding unveil the St. James Freedom Monument during a ceremony at the Montego Bay Civic Centre courtyard, on Emancipation Day. The first of a proposed 13 monuments to be erected across the island, the 14-foot-tall stone monument pays homage to more than 600 men and women who were punished or killed for their part in the Emancipation Wars, also known as the Christmas Rebellion, from 1831-1832. - photos by Claudine Housen/Staff Photographer

Claudine Housen, Staff Reporter

WESTERN BUREAU:

Claiming to be the medium for our ancestors, Yoruba priestess, Dorette Abrahams, said there need to be some crucial changes in the political and economic structure of Jamaica, if the nation's people intend to truly make their forefathers proud.

"Today we honour our ancestors and they have said that they mustspeak, so please I ask that you listen as I voice what our ancestors are saying," Ms. Abrahams said.

She was speaking moments before delivering a Yoruba prayer and libations at the unveiling of the St. James Freedom Monument at the Montego Bay Civic Centre courtyard, on Emancipation Day.

"We your ancestors are indeed happy that you have made a monument to remind yourselves and to honour us for what we went through so that you could be free. However, there are some things that we must say today," she said.

"Jamaica is now free, but when we were made free no land was given to us. Systems were set in place that made it difficult for us to own land or to go into business, therefore we were not able to give to you our children land or a business, but today your leaders, our children are black and these systems must be changed."

Speaking directly to the structure of government, Ms. Abrahams said it sends the wrong signal to the people and undermines attempts to create a peaceful society.

"It is 169 years (since Emancipation in British colonies). Our leaders must now come together and remember that both are our children, children of the ancestors. We can no longer have a Government and an Opposition; this sends the wrong signal to our children. It sends a symbol that there is war," she said.

"There must be peace and harmony in our land. There must be a government and a government that now sit and think of the majority of our people and come up with the things that will break the old systems that were set in place and begin to empower our people."

She continued: "It is therefore time that the Crown lands, the idle lands, be made available at nominal price to our children so that our children will have places to live and there will be no more squatting, no more bulldozing that was done when we were made free. We are now free working towards full free."

claudine.housen@gleanerjm.com

Yoruba priestess, Dorette Abrahams, delivers a Yoruba prayer and pours libations to the ancestors during the unveiling ceremony. Also in the photo are (from left) Professor Verene Shepherd, Nigerian High Commissioner Olufolajimi M. Akintola and Professor Rex Nettleford.