Dear Editor
THE last few days presented a troubling omen which, if there is no varying away, will take us along a rocky road to self-destruction.
The succeeding generation will curse us. We heard the Jagdeo recent ‘feral blast’ about the government giving away large tracts of land to its supporters after the December No- Confidence Motion, with an insinuation of race.
We noted the responses by Messrs. Charles Ceres, Eric Phillips and Trevor Benn. They were accurate and instructive. The first named reminded us of our history. This is very important. If we don’t know all of our past experiences, then we will be unable to understand the present and therefore be ill-equipped to forge a safe future.
Quite rightly, Mr. Ceres, as did Walter Rodney, reminded us that it was the blood, sweat and tears of the Africans during slavery which made our entire Coastal belt habitable.
Later, their descendants as ‘Pork-Knockers’ opened the interior and gold mining areas.
Allow me this caveat, we must neither forget nor ignore the hard work and the culture of deferred gratification by the Indian indentured labourers. These Immigrants made great sacrifices.
The truth is the two majority groups today must accept the absolute need to work together to vindicate the horrors of slavery and even though under improved conditions, the challenges of Indentureship. As Dr. Yesu Persaud quipped some time ago, we came in different ships but now we’re in the same boat. What caused the problem need to be recited often if we are to bravely lead and bequeath to succeeding generations, a united, safe and prosperous country.
Earlier, we had the colonial divide and rule policy; this divisive condition was put somehow on the back burner, when the Waddington Constitution gave every man and woman at 21, the rights for the first time to vote, therefore to elect a government that truly represented the masses. At the helm of this new deal were our two heroes, Dr. Cheddi Bharat Jagan, an American-trained dentist and Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, a brilliant British-trained lawyer. The new government elected with a substantial majority in 1953 was rudely booted out by Her Gracious Majesty’s Government.
The reason advanced was that the PPP leaders were leading the Country to become a Communist State. This, of course, was during the Cold War hysteria.
The events after the suspension of the 1953 Constitution are well known –the two leaders taking a different approach to navigate a tricky international situation. What sort of bridge to build over troubled waters?
When the PPP split came at its Congress, it marked the significant turning point in our social and political history. At that time, the Chairman of the PPP was L.F.S Burnham.
When the split came, the two senior Afro Guyanese leaders came out in support of Dr. Jagan while the two top Indo Party leaders came out in support of Forbes Burnham.
As a ‘young Turk’ in the Party, I sensed that this alliance rang alarm bells in certain quarters. There were those who saw division along racial lines as being beneficial to them, a cynical and narrow approach. This can be discussed at any other time.
The result was that certain elements within the PPP Jaganites camp came out with that carrion call of “Apan Jaat,” meaning vote for your own race.
Since then, this has been a heavy burden the people of Guyana has been saddled with for generations. A Sad and Sorry Situation.
I remain optimistic that, notwithstanding those who seem determined to maintain this brutish breach, that we will overcome and fulfil the aspiration of the architects of our Independence, of ‘One People, One Nation, One Destiny.’
To put an end to the charade of two PPPs (Jaganite, Burnhamite) after the Elections on 12th August, 1957, some of us met and agreed to launch the People’s National Congress with the leader being LFS Burnham; the Chairman– Dr. Joseph Prayag Latchmansingh and General Secretary– Jai Narine Singh, Lawyer.
The time has come for the PNC and the PPP to sit, talk and find a ‘modus vivendi.’ The truth is all of the other political groups have come out of the belly of either the PNC or the PPP. The only way to save Guyana, therefore, is for the PPP and the PNC to talk. Notice, I dismiss the civic component of the PPP and the reform label of the PNC.
We need to remind this generation that the PPP-PNC tussle, with its ethnic edifice, led to the madness of Maginot Lines, mayhem, the loss of life, the destruction of property and the dislocation of families.
Out of this at one time, came the request for partition. It was out of a serious concern when it appeared that we would not live as one people. In any event, one asked after partition, where would the Basdeos live? Mother– Afro-Guyanese; father– Indo Guyanese; where would the Ordersons live? – mother– Indo Guyanese; father– Afro Guyanese; where would the Santantones live and where would the buffianos live and where would the mulattoes live? and the other delightful douglas.
Today, let us first forget the niceties of the Courts and the rulings of the CCJ and deal with the gut issues. The constitutional and political pundits have already consumed too much of our time, money, energy and patience. I said consumed and I dare not say wasted – have us?
Guyana must now come first.
With the help of a few elders and the very young must craft a menu of measures that will provide the guide for governance. It must be like the commandments, an agreement that all those who govern must be scrupulous and any deviation from the rules of propriety must warrant the immediate removal from office – Ministers, Administrators, Managers, Mayors, etc.
Next, the State should avoid the tedium of lengthy, sometimes, unreliable trials.
We must now invest money in up-to date lie detectors with trained personnel so that once a report is made accusing a high official, that official must be required promptly to take a lie detector test.
A public official need to be accountable to the public.
This would put an end to both bizarre and credible accusations.
As a precursor, I recommend this: all charges and accusations, whether before the Courts or other for a, be put on hold and we agree to a period of amnesty, subscribing to the notion that forgiveness can characterize the road ahead and that the vilest sinner can return to be in the fold of goodness with God’s grace.
I am sending this letter also to the political leaders, hoping they have no difficulty considering seriously the above.
Kind regards.
Hamilton Green
