The murderous ‘Hurricane of protest’ that the People’s Progressive Party inflicted on this poor country sixty years ago left a trail of death and destruction. The damage to the economy and to political and social life during the ‘Hurricane’ compounded the deterioration of public services during the PPP’s disastrous seven-year administration from 1957 to 1964.
Former President David Granger, speaking on his weekly programme The Public Interest, claimed that the losses incurred by the ‘Disturbances’ − calculated in terms of 176 officially-reported murders; over 1,000 injured; 15,000 displaced or made homeless; and 1,500 homes and properties burnt or destroyed – cannot be a true tally of the human cost of this country’s worst civil tragedy. He added that an accurate assessment of the damage and destruction wrought by the Hurricane of protest’ could be understood better by a comprehensive examination of the state of the country in 1964.
Mr. Granger recounted that a British Government Commission of Inquiry reported that British Guiana was statistically ‘insolvent’, the business community had been intimidated and the unemployment rate reached 22 per cent. Public education had stagnated. Primary schools, built mainly by Christian churches, were still housed in barrack-room style structures without modern utilities; secondary schools were understaffed and insufficient.
Public infrastructure was backward and most coastal roads were still made of burnt earth; the sea defence system was unsound and the international airport terminal building that had been burnt down in 1959 had not been rebuilt. Public security was parlous and the British Army, which had been deployed almost continuously for a decade, still patrolled the countryside to suppress sporadic acts of arson, bombing, murder and sabotage. Public trust in the PPP administration – which was perceived as perpetrating, rather than preventing, violence – had collapsed.
The former president explained, however, that the Guiana Agricultural Workers Union’s decision to end its deadly and destructive strike in July, together with the results of the UK Government-supervised and Commonwealth-observed general elections in December, opened opportunities for recovery. The People’s National Congress and United Force parties won a majority of seats in the general elections under the Proportional Representation system and formed a coalition administration.
The new administration had to confront the challenge of recovery in the aftermath of the ravages of the PPP’s ‘Hurricane’. Sir Stanley Gomes was invited to lead the National Rehabilitation Committee to resettle persons who had been displaced by the ‘Disturbances’. Measures – such as the official recognition of Hindu and Islamic festivals, the appointment of an Ombudsman and an invitation to the International Commission of Jurists to conduct an Inquiry into the Public Service – were aimed at bringing about reconciliation and recovery.
Granger reminded that this year, 2024, marks the 60th anniversary of the ‘Disturbances’ that had so severely damaged social cohesion. Never before had everyday life so swiftly and strikingly degenerated into hatred and murderous violence. It was the task of the PNC-UF coalition to restore stability in the aftermath of the PPP’s violent ‘Hurricane of protest’ and to realise the promise of a good life for all Guyanese.
