Shareholders, not Burnham, are the neglected and unknown heroes of Guyana

Shareholders, not Burnham, are the
neglected and unknown heroes of Guyana

Dear Editor,
I respond to Hamilton Green's letter, captioned, “Campaign to excise Burnham from our history” as printed in the Kaieteur News – New York Edition of Friday, June 10, 2005 on pages four and five.
It is reflective of the kind of pettiness which marked the PNC's illegal administration. Hamilton Green's points are neither valid nor enlightening. It is indeed very sad that, a former Prime Minister of Guyana would be reduced to such tasteless and pettiness. I cannot begin to comprehend how history of political Guyana can ever omit the Burnham era. It would be like omitting the need and the rise of the Working Peoples Alliance, and its charismatic leading light, Walter Rodney.
It is clear to me that Hamilton Green is voice crying out of the political wilderness in which he has found himself, today. Mr. Green's lamentations ring hollow. Hamilton Green's rationales are all illogical and irrelevant. What was his aim? The letter indicated a self-serving attitude.
I would like to offer my opinions on the Monument at Enmore and the President's College at Golden Grove.
The President's College serves as vestigial of Burnham's dictatorship. I see no honour in its construction – especially since there was a functioning Golden Grove Government Secondary School in the Community which I attended. I am still convinced; there was no need to go to great lengths to a copycat in Golden Grove what Burnham had seen in Africa and Korea. It was simply Burnham's reality, and not a necessity.
I am not opposed to educational institutions in the Golden Grove and Nabaclis community. I simply remain opposed to the idea and the symbolism of the birthing and, what is most important, the manner in which the President's College was realised in Golden Grove. The construction of the President's College remains a sore point with me - a descendant of Bentick Sancho, a shareholder and village father of the Nabaclis–Golden Grove Community. Bentick Sancho played a vital role in February 1856, during the Angel Gabriel Riots between Enmore and Belfield, in helping to keep the peace and protecting the lives of Portuguese and damage to their property. Thus, Bentick Sancho stood for tolerance of ethnic and other differences. Bentick Sancho actions must be interpreted as one which subscribed to the political philosophy of the power of the people. Make no mistake about it - the communal experiences in rural British Guiana are the foundation upon which Guyana stands today. I will always argue to pay homage to education in Golden Grove, and Nabaclis District is to honour the father and son, James Alfred and Donald Ashley Bevel Trotman – who spent most of their lives as Head Masters of Golden Grove Wesleyan School, Members of the local Authority of Golden Grove and Nabaclis District. The Trotmans participated in all phases of life in the community. It would be quite an honourable gesture to rename the College in their honour. It is the correct thing to do. In fact, it is the only thing to do. Those responsible should not only remove Burnham's image – even though a great great grandson of Bentick Sancho, and son of Nabaclis may have painted it, Emerson Samuels (1928 - 2003) – but replace it with images of educators, other members and scenery from the community. In fact, the known history of Golden Grove and Nabaclis should be on the curriculum in the College.
I am quite confident that at some point, the names of the institutions in Golden Grove and Nabaclis will reflect that of the heroes - the shareholders and residents of the community. The shareholders are the original proprietors of Golden Grove and Nabaclis. The shareholders laid down the foundations for settled life in that community. Therefore, they are both my ancestors and my heroes.
There are no Burnhams among those shareholders. There is neither Green nor Licorish on the list. I believe the Burnhams, Greens and Licorish were all, still in Barbados. In 1848, Golden Grove and Nabaclis was doing just fine and dandy without them. Traveller wrote an article entitled “Golden Grove: A village of Cane-Crushing Mills” which was printed in the section “Covering the Country Districts,” and in the issue of the Sunday Chronicle, dated, May 26, 1946, on page 7, in which the writer tells us, “Politically, Golden Grove people are in no way behind the inhabitants of the other villages. It’s Sandys, and Sealeys, Simons and Kendalls, Sarrabos and Collins; its Herods, Sanchos, Bristols, Glasgows, Davids, McLeans, Hughes, and Trotmans have all left their impression on the political pages of the village.” Do the residents of the Golden Grove and Nabaclis community recall the unsung heroes of their community? Do they name institutions in their honour? Do they worry about their places in history of the district? Well! I am positive you and I both know the correct answer to such a question.
I am very confident there will be a period in the not-too-distant future, when leaders will again rise up and point the community onto a path of self-emancipation and economic development, thereby realising the dreams of the heroes of the community. The politicians and their supporters, who were all concerned with their narrow self-interests, turned their dreams into nightmares.
The current situation in Guyana – begs for folks who subscribe to both the theory and the practice in the interest and common good of the people - Mr. Green ought to be both concerned and committed to the preservation of life and all phases of development in Guyana. Yet, while Black on Black crime reigns supremely in the land, just a bit short of anarchy – once-great communities, such as the Buxton-Friendship, the Golden Grove-Nabaclis and Victoria-Belfield districts are reduced to fear and utter despair. The present administration is incapable or reluctant, or both, to arrest the violent criminal element, whoever and whenever they are to be found. Corbin and the PNC have done little or nothing to address issues affecting the people and the state of Guyana. The Military and Para Military commanders are doing their utmost – not stepping on toes – the people cannot, in their right minds, look to those entities for leadership – in solving their unending hurt, which they experience daily.
Mr. Green, try telling your thoughts concerning “a Campaign to Excise Burnham from our History” to relatives whose loved ones have been murdered by the criminals; try telling it to the relatives of Walter Rodney and the others, who were victimized between October 1953 and this very day.
Mr. Hamilton Green, why were the people of Golden Grove not given the opportunity to accept or reject the construction of the College? They were relieved of their land without compensation. In fact, my mother, Mrs. Muriel Ross, a great-grand-daughter of Bentick Sancho, lost two beds aback, without compensation. While this has nothing to do with the college - Mrs. Muriel Ross served her county dutifully for a 45-year career as a primary school teacher – only to be disrespected by the government who revoked her pension. How about the business of possessing a PNC card? Ptolemy Reid asked me why I did not have a PNC card, while I was a student at Burnham Agricultural Institute at Arakaka in the North West District. I am sure I told Dr. Reid I do not support the ideal of a divide and conquer. I am positive Burnham is symbolic of what's wrong with the so-called leaders of non-European nations. They are, for the most part, puppets of European nations, especially the USA. Burnham is no hero – he is the creation of the governments of UK and USA – who was put in placed at the expense of the popular leader, Dr. Cheddi Jagan. Mr. Green, you know that many of us, who are still alive, know that is the truth.
I understand the construction of the Monument in memory of the Enmore Martyrs, was nothing more than political. Let me address that issue – it is clear Burnham was seeking to steal the PPP's thunder. The Jagans' rise to prominence is linked to their actions on the behalf of the working class peoples at Enmore Estate during 1948. Mr. L. F. S. Burnham is no hero of mine. My thoughts of Burnham and the PNC are similar to those I have for the colonial administrators of British Guiana. Burnham's actions revealed a pattern of behaviour that is reminiscent of the Europeans in the history of British Guiana. Burnham copied the actions of several heads of states, mostly of the non-aligned nations. What was the idea of building a mansion at Belfield? The Governors of British Guiana, including Korkright, removed themselves from Georgetown to Belfield for rest and relaxation. I consider Joseph Ruhomon, Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, J.O. F. Haynes, Eusi Kwayana, Martin Carter, Shridath Ramphal, Rohan Kanhai and Walter Rodney, national heroes of Guyana.
The mere fact that Hamilton Green is allowed to utter sentiments on Burnham's behalf, is repulsive to me. Are politicians above the law of the land? The PPP harped and wailed for many years about crimes committed by the PNC against the People and state of Guyana, but to this very day, not one of the members of the PNC has faced a note of justice. Mr. Green, you know those who could testify and present damning against the PNC, including you, are either deceased, or unwilling to do so. Shirley Field-Ridley, Walter Rodney, Vincent Teekah and countless others, remain unresolved murders in my eyes and exhibits against the PNC. I wish eyewitnesses had the nerve to tell us the truths of the rumours of crimes, which were committed by and for political reasons.
Mr. Green, the truth is the shareholders of the African Villages are the neglected and unknown heroes of Guyana. It is upon their bold attempts of self- emancipation in the face of great odds, which ushered in the foundations upon which the nation political Guyana was built. I am neither shocked nor perturbed at Hamilton Green, a beneficiary of his relative's position as Head of State of Guyana. Mr. Green would attempt to defend his cousin and self at all costs.
Mr. Green's article only serves to demonstrate the reasons for the establishment of an International Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate those long rumoured occurrences and the known facts of the events, dating from October 1953 in British Guiana, to this very day in Guyana. Let the chips fall where they may. I will put my life on the line. I will bet Burnham will not come out of such, smelling like a rose.
Mr. Green and fellow Guyanese, it is obvious descendants of shareholders of Golden Grove and Nabaclis, those pride themselves upon the footsteps of their ancestors, who will lead the community to equal and surpass the heights set by their ancestors on January 5, 1848.
I will rest in peace, confident in the power of the people, in support of the common good and the will of the people. Long live Peoples Power – and it will never die. The struggle continues
M'lilwana Osanku