IS there another person whose name is emblazoned on four streets in this country? I did not know there was a fourth street named after the plantation owner, Thomas. I read where the Ministry of Public Works sent out a national advisory that a part of the East Bank Demerara (EBD) corridor will be closed to facilitate the completion of the new river bridge.

The notice asked drivers to divert to Thomas Street in that area. So, there is Thomas Street in Kitty, Thomas Street in North Cummingburg, Thomas Road where the Guyana Defence Force headquarters is located and there are Thomas Lands, which is a Georgetown ward that include Camp Ayanganna, the National Park, among other places. And now I know there is a Thomas Street in Peter’s Hall on the East Bank of Demerara.

I have long argued during my 36 years as a newspaper columnist that Guyana should name buildings, streets, and scholarships among other things after great or brilliant or patriotic Guyanese whose contributions were enormous. I have argued that when you put these people’s names in the public realm, those who didn’t know about their existence will now have a chance to examine a part of Guyana’s history.

Guyanese know about one of the best wicketkeeper/batmen cricket produced, and he is an iconic wicketkeeper/batsman from India – Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Long before Dhoni was born, India had produced a swashbuckling wicketkeeper/batman that maybe few in Guyana know about. He was from the 1970s. His name is Farokh Engineer.

Last week, the English club that Engineer played for – Lancashire – – named a stand after him. This cricket club is inside one of the most famous cricket grounds — Old Trafford. When you go to see cricket at Old Trafford, you may sit in the Farokh Engineer/ Clive Lloyd Stand. The stand has a double name. The other name is the great cricketing hero that played for Lancashire, Guyana, and the West Indies — Guyana’s icon, Clive Lloyd.

What will happen in England is that if you didn’t know about these two giants, you will know now. Guyana for some esoteric reason is reluctant to go down that justified road. Over the decades in my columns, I have made some suggestions, I would like to repeat them and by repeating, I don’t mean for the second time. I have made these suggestions more than three times already.

Here is my list.

Ron Robinson. He will be celebrating soon at the Theatre Guild, 70 years in theatre and 60 years in radio.

Rohan Kanhai, one of the best batsmen the West Indies has produced. He is a son of Berbice and should have something in Berbice named after him.
Eddie Grant. He remains the only musical superstar Guyana has given to the world. When I went to the University of Toronto to study and students knew I was from Guyana, they would talk to me about the music of Eddie Grant.

Janet Jagan. She was a Guyanese giant who defied brutal colonialism and subsequent brutal, locally grown dictatorship under Forbes Burnham and one of the avenues she channelled her energy into was journalism.

Desmond Hoyte. He paved the way for free and fair elections and chose to live in his humble private residence on North Road while he was president. That street should be renamed after him.

Shruti Kant, originally from India, made Guyana his home and pioneered one of the most successful private high schools in Guyana’s history on Thomas Street in North Cumingsburg. Shruti is one the nicest, modest and caring humans I have ever met. Name western Thomas Street after him and name eastern Thomas Street, Hospital Street. All Guyanese know Thomas Street is famous for the Georgetown Hospital. So, keep Thomas Street in Kitty, keep Thomas Road, keep Thomas Lands, keep Thomas Street in Peter’s Hall and rename western Thomas Street after Shruti.

Father Andrew Morrison, Jesuit priest. Father taught all Guyanese between the 1970s through the 1980s what courageous journalism should be. I think UG should rename the building that houses its Mass Communication programme, the Andrew Morrison School of Journalism. Or maybe there should be a post-graduate scholarship in his name.

There is a perennial point I have been making. There is no significance in the names South Road and North Road. Those appellations arose in a time that has lost its meaning. In changing their names, no historical motif will be damaged because they are not named after some historical figures.

Guyana has one of the youngest populations in the world and they must be allowed to reflect on where their country came from and who made superb contributions. I would like to see a street named after Palestine to inform Guyanese that the worst government in history came from Israel.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.