Dear Editor,
We Guyanese, it seems, are eternally destined to disagree about everything. We are now debating about whether we may require parliament to take care of the dead. Whether Mr Philip Moore is buried in Berbice as he reportedly requested, or is reburied in Georgetown should not really matter. It does not make him less of a patriot. Why is Mr Moore’s resting place now a bone of contention? For me, Mr Moore has the right to be buried in complete dignity, quite unlike the madness which surrounded the late President Hoyte’s interment at Seven Ponds. If Mr Eusi Kwayana (SN, May 22) believes ‘Moore should be laid to rest at Seven Ponds – unless the family and village community choose otherwise,’ then let it be for peace sake. Admittedly Mr Kwayana has every freedom to declare that “this is not a matter for a ministry” to decide. But what about his exhortation that “the National Assembly should consider convening and expressing an opinion in the name of the people”? Even if the APNU/AFC controlled National Assembly were to officially immerse itself in taking care of the dead, it would inevitably involve the current PPP/C government, and would require the “Ministry of Culture [to] be true to its mission [to] defend the honour of the artistic community” and supervise any final arrangements. Mr Moore’s life of modesty and simplicity must count for something in guiding his final resting place.
Only a few would actually believe that a talented Guyanese becomes more sanctified as a consequence of where he is actually buried, even if he is Guyana’s most famous sculptor. I met Mr Moore during National Service and just simply liked him. Respect for Mr Moore does not increase nor is it significantly embellished because of the company he keeps in death. Our most famous poet, Mr Martin Carter, also from the “nigger yard” may “not be flattered in the spirit” to be interred at Seven Ponds, as Mr Kwayana had good cause to remind us. Indeed, look in whose company the one-time Marxist Carter lies. Mr Carter had long distanced himself in life from any PNC affiliations; with his consistent socialism he was just a hero to all, regardless of colour.
Both President Cheddi and Janet Jagan (as well as Mrs Viola Burnham) preselected cremation and a watery habitat for themselves at the mouths of Guyana’s main rivers. Any schoolboy knows that when the Atlantic Ocean waters evaporate they are blown inland where they fall as life-giving rain to nourish Guyana – a perpetual cycle.
Prominent African leaders, including Mr Rashleigh Jackson, as well as ACDA seem oblivious to the fact that by staking their claim to the modest Mr Moore as exclusively ‘theirs‘ it ignores the need to celebrate that he is “ours’ – ie all Guyana’s as well. It does no justice to Mr Moore’s artistic originality. As it is, the Seven Ponds site was not designed for mass burial of all Guyana’s many heroes. No one wants it to emulate the Le Repentir cemetery with its water-logged gaping tombs, overgrown weeds and criminal elements that now haunt it day and night.
The definition of who is a hero also needs to be made clear and definitive, or soon we will find everyone trying to get in at Seven Ponds. The wives of the current residents at Seven Ponds in addition to the remains of Mr Boysie Ramkarran, Mr Brindley Benn, Mr HJM Hubbard, Sir John Carter, Mrs Winifred Gaskin, Mrs Jane Phillips-Gay and Kowsilla etc have not been reinterred at the Seven Ponds. Dr Ptolemy Reid (and he was an undeniable patriot) specifically chose to be buried in his native Essequibo, far away from Seven Ponds and its entire humbug hubbub. He reportedly wanted complete peace. Without a doubt the family of Dr Walter Rodney would go into seizures if the body of the Marxist legend were to be considered for a Seven Ponds retrofit. Now that’s one national hero who none can justifiably stake a claim of belonging to one group alone. In the meantime we must scout for a new site where all national heroes can find a common place of honour without national rancour like the US Arlington cemetery. The PPP/C also needs to name schools, buildings and streets after all our former national heroes regardless of party affiliation.
Yours faithfully,
Sultan Mohamed
