Dear Editor,

PLEASE publish this response to a letter by Mr. Claudius Prince published in both the SN and KN concerning the proposed new Qatari Hotel (“Ex GNS members must mount campaign against the taking away of this ground on Carifesta Ave,” SN, March 3, 2024”).

While the City Council sees this as an ownership dispute issue, Mr Prince managed to make this a “race” and “party” issue. Mr. Prince said, “The fact that the GNS Complex means so much to so many of us means nothing to the PPP. After all, those of us making up the bulk of ex-GNS members were not/are not known to be supporters of the PPP.

So, for the PPP, depriving us of our complex, inflicting such emotional pain on us is no big deal.” So, is Mr. Prince objecting because he is one in his GNS group who does not support the PPP, and he is using GNS nostalgia to foment mobilising against the government?

The Guyana National Service was introduced during the Burnham era, and was part of what Danns calls the “militarisation of Guyana,” when he said there was a ratio of one military person per 35 Guyanese. I did “forced” national service because Burnham made it a condition of being able to attend UG, which was free at that time. That was a lot of emotional and family pain too!

Many Indians, especially the women withdrew from UG when Burnham imposed this requirement. National Service required leaving home and living far away in the interior for a year. This clashed with Indian culture at that time. So, while Mr Prince celebrates GNS, others lament being forced to serve, during that period. As the proverb said, “One man’s meat, is another man’s poison.”

Mr. Prince said: “First, GNS was primarily peopled by members of the Afro- Guyanese community. Dr Cheddi Jagan once observed that ‘Afro Guyanese are at the bottom of the social order,’ (or something to that effect). Having made that observation, he did not move to initiate any perceivable policy or programmes intended to improve our condition, as he defined it.

Perhaps he was limited by the absence of adequate resources at the time. Now with adequate resources at their disposal, the modern PPP, which claims to revere their founder-leader, one would have thought to seek to satisfy what we saw as a desire on Jagan’s part, to improve our lot.

Sadly not so, the modern PPP seems intent on taking away from us what little we have.”

This statement from Mr. Prince reminds me of what Mr. Green just said about the need for rigging and to fulfilling the entitlement of being “pon tap.” Our Afro-Guyanese continue to dominate in the military, ministries and all state agencies. Probably because Mr Prince does not support the government, he cannot acknowledge that GOAL scholarships, distribution of house lots, cash grants, and government benefits are given out without discrimination.

Mr. Prince said: “A campaign needs to be mounted against the taking away of recreational land that served primarily the poor, by the Guyana government.

“To do this, ex-GNS members at home must organise themselves for this battle.”

I remember what Burnham used to say, “It’s not the causus bellus, it’s the causus belli.” It’s not the reason for the war, it’s the occasion for the war. Nice try, Mr. Prince!

Sincerely,
M. Singh