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Dear Editor,
I read with some sadness the spirited response by Hon. Oneidge Walrond, MP related to the presentation at a United Nations by Attorneys Nigel Hughes and Darren Wade, dealing with the issue of the PPP Government’s unfair treatment to Afro Guyanese.
Ms. Walrond, who I believe is a recent inductee, if not a proselyté of the PPP, is blissfully unaware of the attitude of the heartland of the PPP. Her efforts to serve are commendable but certainly misguided and myopic.
Through this media, I invite the good lady to comment on her Party’s history, just a few of which follows.
First, Let her say who encouraged the use of the Hindu phrase ‘Apan Jaat,.” which in our circumstances means vote for your own race, so that in the 1957 Elections, a popular figure on the East Coast lost his seat to Balram Singh Rai for no other reason of racial voting, of which the PPP based on a demography were the beneficiaries.
And as a corollary, there was the other destructive phrase of “ awe pun top.” I am not aware that her Party did anything to subdue the above. In the Post 1961 General Elections, which the PPP won, the PPP had made arrangements to have thousands of Indians from the State of Kerala, the tropical malabar coast of India to be brought to settle in Guyana
Second, only a stout Opposition prevented this, pointing out that there were similar numbers of West Indians willing to settle in Guyana.
Does this recent PPP supporter – Minister know why the PPP Party did not support Guyana’s being part of the proposed West Indian Federation?
After the 1964 Elections, Burnham led a crusade to bring previously warring Indo and Afro Guyanese communities together by building self-help schools, health centres and police stations. The PPP activists persuaded the Indo-Guyanese supporters to boycott these efforts.
The self-help building project was intended to obliterate the many maginot lines along our coastal belt.
Next, when National Service was introduced, intended among other things, to get Guyanese from every region and every ethnic background, to live, buil and work together in a controlled environment, the PPP hierarchy opposed this national harmonizing project.
Next, when Carifesta, a great success story, the PPP activists worked behind the scenes to keep the Indo-Guyanese away but we still had the likes of Nesbit Changurand Prince Nero, Indo-Guyanese singing calypso, a cultural area in the West Indies dominated by Afros.
It was the PPP administration, which argued before the ICJ that there should be ethnic balance in all of our security forces. This philosophy is today alive and well and Officers responsible for recruitment, I’m reliably informed have been given this directive. Mind you, some of us argued, since in the 60s, if you believe ethnic balance is a solution, it must permeate every strata, where the Government exercises control or influence to land distribution, etc.
The PPP has in this area ignored our history, particularly, the Post Emancipation period, which in essence determined the complexion (no pun intended) of our society.
The Manumitted Africans showed a greater interest in the public and security services, while the majority of Indo-Guyanese showed a preference for agriculture, business and importation of goods. These were all voluntarily.
Attend any of our Remembrance Day Parade celebrating the sacrifices of those who volunteered to fight in the World War and those making up the contingent of the war veterans were the vast majority of Afro-Guyanese. Fact not fiction.
She would observe that with few exceptions, those who volunteered to serve our country were Afro-Guyanese. Beyond that some of the illustrious, efficient, soldiers and policemen were Indo-Guyanese who emerged after Independence.
In the military, I think of Major General Joe Singh, a Citizen and soldier par excellence, and a man who has made us all proud of great credit to our Nation. For the Police Force, Commissioner of Police, Balram Ragubir.
I will not burden this letter with many other examples but only two may help to bring those consumed with Ms. Walrond’s narrative to their senses.
When the Berbice Bridge was proposed, I examined reports that because of soil conditions, less ferocity of the tide and a shorter distance that the bridge should be constructed on the east from either Stanleytown or Rotterdam to Ithaca to the west. All being communities where Afro-Guyanese settled.
Why was this sound engineering and economic proposal ignored?
Recently, the Government announced the building of a State-of-the- Art Hospital at Bath Settlement, even though there is one at Fort Wellington that could be expanded or rebuilt .
When the likes of the good lady speak and write, they should only cling to the truth and context of our history. In a plural society a good government must deal with persons based on their competence and trust-worthiness., not ignoring those who suffered the most. I can remind the good MP about two things which would help her.
What the Hon. Minister should recognise that the Statements by Attorneys Nigel Hughes and Darren Wade represent the concerns of the majority of Afro-Guyanese. Recall, no less a person than Dr. Cheddi B. Jagan once said that Afro-Guyanese are at the bottom of the ladder.
Minister Walrond should seek to have her Government address these concerns, real or perceived she might think, instead of her verbal assault on concerned patriots.
My further advice to the good lady is to do what she can, if she can, to make a reality of her National Motto – One People, One Nation, One Destiny and perhaps remind her of our Pre-Independence Motto “ honi soit qui mal y pense.” taken from the Motto of the British chivalric mOrder of the Garter.
Yours truly,
Hamilton Green
Elder
