Dear Editor,
I read with great interest the letter written by EB John which appeared in Wednesday’s issue of the Stabroek News under the rubric ‘We should recreate the musical agenda for Independence in 1966.’ I totally agree with EB and started to reflect on the activities for the celebrations nearly five decades ago. I did not see much in the capital city, but was very much involved in the activities in my county ‒ the ancient county of Berbice. I seem to recall that although the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and founder leader Cheddi Jagan, fought for independence, their supporters were not visible at the celebrations to mark our independence.
When British Guiana gained freedom in May 1966 there was a coalition government between Forbes Burnham’s PNC and Peter D’Aguiar’s United Force (UF) and now there is a merged government between APNU (PNC, WPA) and AFC, but it seems to me that the main planning committee in Georgetown for the 50th anniversary celebrations comprises mainly APNU/PNC. It is the same in New York and I am wondering if the committee members would be able to get the support of the masses in the diaspora
I cannot blame APNU or the government for this because the PPP supporters are not willing or are reluctant to be involved. This is very unfortunate; the PPP/C’s rejection of an invitation to participate in the 49th anniversary celebrations in Georgetown was unbelievable. Rather the party decided to have its own programme at Babu John, Port Mourant which turned out to be a ‘fiasco’.
The planning committee must not rely only on PNC supporters for planning the occasion, but tap persons who would be willing to assist, and I have no doubt EB John and many other patriotic Guyanese would be happy to serve. Moreover there must be a breakthrough in order to bridge the gap between the PNCR and the PPP/C. It will soon be 50 years since we cut ties with the United Kingdom and still there is a wedge between the two major parties mainly because of race, and this nonsense must stop. There are some African-Guyanese who feel that all Indian-Guyanese support the PPP, which is completely false. They should remember names like Sir Lionel Luckhoo, Neville Bissember, Cammie Ramsaroop, David Singh, Halim Majeed, Winston Murray, Ronald Bulkan, Mohamed Saffee, and scores of others; and likewise some Indians wrongfully place all Africans in the PPP camp. Some of the prominent Africans associated with the PPP include Brindley Benn, EMG Wilson, Roger Luncheon, Sam Hinds, Jennifer Westford and dozens of others.
It was said the colonial masters sowed the racial seed ‒ to divide and rule. We are now 50 years into independence and there are thousands of mixed Indian and African Guyanese. Let’s cast aside race and move towards building a better Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Oscar Ramjeet
