History This Week – No. 19/2010
By Hazel Woolford
The policy of Guianisation was an important stage in the journey towards nationalism. Nation building was synonymous with a qualified labour force. Since 1928, one of the problems, which bedevilled the Civil Service (renamed Public Service) of British Guiana, was the virtual absence of Guianese in senior administrative positions. There was a limited number of persons qualified to fill the vacancies, when they were created. To address this problem, the motion was tabled for the Guianisation of the Civil Service. The objective was to train Guianese, who would be equipped academically to function at senior levels in the service.
The issue of the appointment of suitable, qualified and experienced Guianese was addressed in 1933. The Swettenham circular, with its qualifications for entry into the Civil Service, set out the criteria for those Guianese, who were eligible to be appointed. By the 1940s, civil society organizations also campaigned for Guianisation of the Civil Service. The League of Coloured People group was in the forefront of the campaign for Guianisation in the 1940s. The LCP demanded that qualified nationals should be appointed to senior positions in the Civil Service and commissioned as officers in the security services, positions usually reserved for expatriates.
During the period 1957 – 1961, the policy of Guianisation was of grave concern to politicians, trade unionists, the press and the other advocacy groups in civil society. The crisis escalated in 1958/59, with the appointment of the post of Postmaster General. The personalities involved in the dispute were Mr. Christopher Deane, an African-Guianese and Mr. E.C. Cassell an expatriate.
The players in the affair were, the Governor of the Colony, Sir Ralph Grey, the People’s Progressive Party government, the Civil Service Association, the Post Office Workers Union and the Graphic Chronicle and the Sun Newspapers.
The argument was that Mr. Deane was the logical successor of Mr. K.I.R. Kirkpatrick. The CSA and the BETUC had campaigned for the appointment of Mr. Deane as PMC and, had requested that the newly appointed expatriate, Mr. Cassell should be given another appointment as a consultant, to direct the re-organisation of the Post and Telecommunication service. However, in the opinion of Premier Cheddi Jagan, the head of the 1957/61 PPP Administration, the PPP was in office, but not in power. Firstly, the PPP did not have the power to make appointments in the Civil Service, because of the nature of the constitution. Secondly, the PPP had operated under the assumption, that the middle class, particularly the black middle class, was opposed to them being in political office. This perception certainly influenced their position, that the crisis had exposed their enemies. Hence, they viewed the affair as a personal attack.
The political party, the Guyana Independence Movement also condemned the appointment of an expatriate as Postmaster General. While, Linden Forbes Burnham, the leader of the People’s National Congress had agreed that Deane was the logical successor of Mr. K.I.R. Kirkpatrick, acknowledged in a speech in the Legislative on February 03, 1958 that:
We realize that, unlike in the United
Kingdom, the elected
ministers have absolutely no
voice in civil service appointments
Burnham instead, insisted on proper labour practices and the observances of the principle of Guianisation at all levels. It was his opinion, that racism was the main contributing factor, for the Colonial administration reluctance to appoint Deane as the first Guianese Postmaster General. Dean’s and Cassell’s qualifications were similar and they had the same years of experience.
In fact as the crisis deepened, the protest became overtly racial. Burnham was not hesitant to wrestle mentally with the toughest negotiators. On several occasions, one observed that both parties stood ground and would not yield even on to death. But the test of wills did not diminish his status among his following on those, whom he chose to play the human game of chess in labour circles. One typical example was the dispute with the trade unionist Andrew “Stonewall” Jackson, on the Dean/Cassell affairs. Jackson was the founder of the Guyana Post Office Workers Union. He had registered the union, under the Trade Union Ordinance on 3rd June 1938.
During his career as a trade unionist and politician, Andrew Jackson, had held the positions of General Secretary of the PNC, President of the Federation of Unions of Government Employee (F.U.G.E.) and President of the Postal and Telecommunication Workers Union. In 1959, during the ongoing controversy over the Guianisation of the civil service, Jackson declared that ‘his conscience was bigger than either the People’s National Congress of which he was then, the General Secretary, or, the Trades Union Council’.
While Jackson did not oppose the appointment of a Guianese to the post of Postmaster General, he rejected the motion that qualified and experienced public servants would be barred from upward mobility within the public service.
He had been a victim of this class prejudice within the structure of the Civil Service. He had advocated for several years that ‘persons from the ranks of the POWU should be appointed to top administrative posts. The union even encouraged its members to take correspondence courses to qualify themselves for these top posts’. He had also experienced opposition in his attempts to move from the position of an unclassified to a classified civil servant.
In his opinion, which was in opposition to the CSA, PPP, GIM and PAX, he had fought for all categories of workers, in the Civil Service. The PPP administration did not support him. They insisted that Jackson had led the main attack on the Government in the 1957–58 budget, bypassing the appointment of a Guianese as a Director of Civil Aviation. He voted for the reintroduction of the head ‘Civil Aviation’ which was moved from the estimates in order to have a Guianese appointed to that post. They had also accused Jackson, his leader Burnham and his colleagues Kendall and Tello of inspiring racism in the Legislative. The factor of racism, in the protest had also been of major concern to Jackson and this alienated him from the PPP.
As a representative of the F.U.G.E. and PTWU, he subsequently backed the appointment of Deane, for the ultimate benefit of Guianese workers.
He withdrew his union from the TUC and resigned from the FUGE. In the end, Mr. E.C. Cassell was appointed Director of Post and Telecommunications, and Mr. Deane appointed Postmaster General. Deane was to serve as PMG until he reached the age of 60, but his performance would be reviewed when he reached the age of 55, to determine whether he was fit to continue.
It was suggested that Jackson lost his seat as a PNC parliamentarian in the 1961 general elections, because of his stance on the Deane issue. In subsequent years, although he remained the head of two of the largest trade unions in Guyana, he was not appointed to any Board of the Corporations and, of the statutory bodies created by the Government. Andrew Jackson died in November 1968. One notable absence from Jackson’s funeral was Forbes Burnham, who sent a representative. The New Nation, the organ of the PNC noted his passing.
In June 1978, the Burnham government accomplished a major task, which Andrew Jackson had championed. The public service’s widows and orphans funds, was made available to all public servants, besides those on the fixed establishment. The new contributors included teachers, policemen, firemen, soldiers and females. The contributors increased from 4,000 to 24,000. By including the public servants who were on the fixed establishment, the government removed one of the vestiges of the colonial public service.