Dear Editor,
Hamilton Green, former Prime Minister who held several ministerial positions in the Forbes Burnham administration said that he was not annoyed with the party leader when Desmond Hoyte bypassed him in the party’s hierarchy and eventually became President after the demise of Burnham. Contrary to what some people thought, Mr Green said that he took the leader’s decision gracefully, but later he did not agree with some of the decisions made by Hoyte whom he believed was responsible for the PNC losing the government.
Mr Green also disclosed that the CIA in one of its “blue leaflets” on Foreign Reports stated that he and his wife Shirley were contemplating taking over the PNC, which he said was completely false. He said Burnham showed him the “confidential leaflet,” but he did not pay much attention to it.
He added that after the death of Burnham he was encouraged by several members of the top brass of the party to run for leadership of the party, but he decided against it because it would have divided the party. He said he also took the advice of Dr Ptolemy Reid, former General Secretary and Prime Minister and stepped aside. He said he was expelled from the PNC, and later formed the GGG which means Good, Green Georgetown. He said “green” referred to a green Guyana, and not to his name Green. It was more environmental, he said. He added that GGG showed his strength because he won 12 seats in Georgetown as opposed to the PNC which secured 10 and the PPP 8. Unfortunately his movement is not active, and although he is still Mayor of Georgetown he cannot properly run the city council because of financial and administrative setbacks.
He described himself as a diehard politician who became involved with the PPP in1953 at the tender age of 19, and was with the party when the constitution was suspended in1953 and British troops moved into the city for absolutely no reason, since there was no resistance by Guianese after the unwarranted and unjustified suspension. He said he grew up in Albouystown and quite a large number of his friends were Indians, and he never entertained racial discussions.
When asked about Burnham and his policies, Mr Green said that he agreed with nationalization which was necessary and was fully supported by Jagan, but felt it was pushed too quickly and the doses were too large. He was referring to the nationalization of both the sugar and bauxite industries rather close to one another. It was a herculean task to fight Booker Tate and the American giant Reynolds.
Touching on the banning of basic food items, Mr Green, who celebrated his 80th birthday yesterday, November 9, said he agreed with the policy of buy local and eat what you grow, but that the process should have been implemented gradually before taking the drastic step of banning basic food items.
When I asked what was his biggest achievement as a politician his response was “fixing the roads” on the East Bank and East Coast of Demerara while he served as Minister of Works.
Yours faithfully,
Oscar Ramjeet
