Dear Editor
PEEPING Tom, someone who does not have the courage to use his/her own names, tried to misrepresent the truth of the British Guiana Colonisation Scheme.
This is understandable, because Peeping Tom and others do not want Guyana to move forward. They want to keep our history in the “dark” and like true racial entrepreneurs, want to hide the historical source of the racial problems facing Guyana.

I wonder why this is the reason that Kaieteur News did not publish the letter, but he wants to comment on the letter in the Kaieteur News. Well Peeping Tom, I did not create anything in that article; the documents of the Combined Courts speak for themselves. Luckhoo and others speak for themselves. Peeping Tom cannot. Their words are captured in the official documents of the Combined Courts that can be found in the British and Guyanese Archives.

The words are verbatim from this document. Trying to reposition it is as expected. Hiding the truth has always been a political strategy in Guyana and this is why history is not taught in schools. It is noteworthy that the debate on the British Guiana Colonisation Scheme went on for 10 years, from 1919 to 1929. It was the overwhelming issue of the decade.

In my letter, the quotes are from the official documents.
Quote #1 “We would then have hundreds of prosperous villages and thousands of square miles of flourishing crops springing up from the fertile soil of the colony, and by the exploitation of the Gold, Diamond, Aluminum (bauxite ore) and other mineral and forest wealth of British Guiana, the three- century-old dream of Sir Walter Raleigh regarding our Magnificent Province, the fabled land of El Dorado, would be realised.

Quote # 2……From the same document. “We are in a position definitely to state that the Indians now resident in British Guiana comprise about 45 per cent of the entire population of the colony, and they are better, safer, happier and more prosperous there than those residing in any other parts of the world; and even we venture to say India itself. It may be well to mention that in the social and religious aspects, Indians enjoy perfect freedom. Their general ideas in these respects are somewhat more westernised that in India. All children in the colony are entitled to receive free and compulsory education.

Quote # 3……From the same document. “We, the Indian representatives of the imperial Colonisation Deputation of British Guiana, now formally state that it is our desire , aim, and our object, if possible, to induce more Indians from the Motherland to join our ranks, increase our numbers and so help us to make British Guiana an Indian colony. This is really, the Empire’s clarion call to India.” W Hewley Wharton, Chairman Parbhu Sawh, Member and businessman Joseph A Luckhoo, Secretary Indian Section Imperial Colonisation Deputation of British Guiana.

In 2013, Professor Emeritus Clem Seecharan highlighted the friction the British Guiana Colonisation Scheme created between Africans and Indians during the decade-long debate and trips to India by prominent Indo-Guyanese of the day.
He wrote about African concerns of Indian domination were exacerbated “ by fears that prominent Indians, such as J.A. Luckhoo and Dr William Hewley Wharton, were committed to creating an ‘Indian Colony,’ with the possible renewal of immigration from India, after the end of indentureship in 1920.

African apprehensions were sustained in the 1930s, when prominent Indians such as Peter Rohoman and C.R. Jacobs, advocated building of a ‘greater India’ in Guyana. This imbedded a resilient fear among African Guyanese that they would lose everything to the Indian juggernaut. Moreover, the notion that British Guiana is an El Dorado, with stupendous resources, has fed continual apprehension between Africans and Indians that whoever inherits the kingdom is on the royal road to a Golden Age.”
So Peeping Tom, tell us who you are. Stop hiding behind false names to give us false narratives.

Sincerely
Eric Phillips
Chairman
Guyana Reparations Committee