Dear Editor,
I do not know whether Volume I of my Wordsworth McAndrew biography, published a year ago by Caribbean Press, has anything to do with him now receiving a Guyana Golden Arrow of Achievement Award, posthumously, but I’m truly happy that he is at last being recognized for his distinguished contributions as a radio presenter, poet, newspaper columnist and, of course, folklorist.
After several years of service of the highest quality to Guyana, Wordsworth McAndrew should have been honoured long before he died in the United States, far from his roots. What I hope is that the long delay was not due to political victimization or ignorance; Mac angered the late President Burnham and the PNC when, in the mid ʼ70s, he said on radio that he did not want to be addressed as “Comrade.” There were calls for his head, and Mr Burnham went after him.
When Mac was fired in 1969 from the Guyana Broadcasting Service for wearing rubber slippers to work, Mrs Janet Jagan, writing in the Sunday Mirror of May 4, 1969, strongly defended him and called for his reinstatement. Further, after Mac’s famous ‘bicycle wedding’ of Saturday, March 14, 1970, Dr Cheddi and Mrs Jagan went to his home to celebrate with him and his wife, Rosie. (See p.129 of Wordsworth’s White Wife (Caribbean Press) by Rosie McAndrew.
Perhaps, the late PPP government would have honoured Mac had their new youngsters known these bits of history. However, Mac would have yelled against any national honour because former PPP leaders connected with him as being totally wrong! And so it should be for all honorees; they must truly earn their honours, and not have honours handed to them because of political connections.
Despite the much-too-late Golden Arrow of Achievement, the better honour would be for a McAndrew Centre to be created at the University of Guyana. I have many of his writings (poetry, essays, letters, etc) and some of his tapes that I’d like housed in such a centre. In my opinion, a UG Wordsworth Albert McAndrew Centre is the best way to honour a dedicated, altruistic intellectual, who would have opportunities to continue sharing his knowledge with a nation he loved, even though he’s no longer with us in the flesh.
Yours faithfully,
Roy Brummell
