THE destruction of the Umana Yana by fire last Tuesday afternoon has really left a shadow over the events that were scheduled to be held there for Amerindian Heritage Month, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon observed on Wednesday. 

Speaking at his post-Cabinet press briefing at the Office of the President, in Georgetown, he said that very Tuesday, they were supposed to honour one Stephen Campbell. “So it certainly detracted from the state’s activity to deal with aspects of Amerindian heritage,” he said.
“Other than a pledge to move full speed ahead and to do the reconstruction, I don’t believe that there was much more that came out of Cabinet’s discussion (last Tuesday). Just get on the ball and build the place back as quickly as possible,” he said.
Meanwhile, at just about 15:30hrs Tuesday, the Umana Yana was gutted by fire, which, according to firemen, might have been electrical in origin. The fire lasted for some 15 minutes before firemen managed to get it under control.
Guyana Fire Service (GFC) Operations Officer, Mr. Compton Sparman told the Chronicle that within five minutes of receiving the call, two fire tenders from the Central Fire Station, and one from the Alberttown Fire Station, were sent to the scene of the fire, on the upper reaches of High Street, in the ward of Kingston.
As to what might have caused the fire, Sparman said, “Our preliminary investigations reveal that the structure might have been burnt by electrical cause; there was nothing in there that could have caused the fire besides electrical wires. Fires don’t happen; they are caused, and we will work to bring a detailed investigation soon.”
The Umana Yana, a conical palm-thatched hut (benab), was erected back in 1972 to be used as a V.I.P. Lounge and Recreation Centre for the Non-Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference held here in Georgetown in August of that year.
Situated on upper High Street in close proximity to the Pegasus Hotel and obliquely opposite the newly built Marriott Hotel, the Umana Yana was, until yesterday, a permanent and much admired part of Georgetown’s scenery, and in constant use as an exhibition and conference centre.
Standing 55 feet (16.78 metres) tall, the “Benab” as the Umana Yana is popularly known, is made of thatched allibanna, manicole palm leaves, and wallaba posts lashed together with mukru, turu and nibbi vines. No nails were used in its construction.
It was erected by a team of about 60 members of the Wai-Wai nation, one of the nine tribes indigenous to Guyana. Fashioned like the Wai-Wai benabs or shelters found deep in Guyana’s interior, it occupies an area of 460 square metres, making it the largest structure of its kind in Guyana.
The monument consisted of five polished greenheart logs encased in a jasper stand on a granite boulder. “Umana Yana” is a Wai-Wai term meaning “Meeting place of the people.”

(By Telesha Ramnarine)