What Spivak is trying to say is that when the intellectual "speaks for" the subaltern they are being complicit in keeping them in a helpless sort of role. What should really be happening is for those people to be empowered, that is, yield power themselves and speak for themselves.
(If you read Bell Hooks, she has a very interesting view on this subject.)
When intellectuals speak for marginalized or disenfranchised people it is enabling, in the sense that it keeps them in their comfortable position of not being the power behind their own lives. They are like children. It doesn't do anything for them because they are still in a passive role.
A good analogy is how a mother and child interact. If the mother only set's down rules for the child to follow, the child doesn't learn anything for themselves. If the child acts on their own--taking responsibility for their own actions--they can grow into their own power. Eventually the child must function alone in society to be truly free. It is the same with the subaltern. They must be self-defining to be truly free.
If the mother speaks for the child, she is not allowing her child to grow up or speak for themselves. In a sense she is crippling the child, encouraging them to be dependent. In the same way, an intellectual would be complicit in marginalizing the subaltern if he or she continues to speak for them.
All people must be self-defining in order to be free.
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