Dear Editor,
I have been following with interest the controversy over the decision to rename the Ogle International Airport after one of the pioneers of local aviation, the late Eugene Correia.
While I have to admit that I know little of Mr Correia’s contribution to the growth and development of the aviation sector, as a resident of the Ogle-Goedverwagting community I can attest to the enormous strides made over the past few decades by the several local airline companies now operating out of Ogle. The arrivals/ departures of aircraft, in particular the heavier ones plying the Caribbean route, cannot be missed as a consequence of the daily deafening moments which usually accompany take-offs and landings.
At the risk of appearing parochial, I thought the name Ogle had quite an appeal, especially when compared to the new name. My difficulty, however, is much more fundamental. The late Eugene Correia, I learnt, was a cabinet member of the interim government that replaced the elected and popular PPP government in 1953 which was ejected from office after a mere six months following a resounding victory in the historic elections of 1953, the first under universal adult suffrage.
Whatever the justification offered by the British government to overthrow the popular and duly elected PPP government under the charismatic leadership of Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham, it was undoubtedly a reactionary and undemocratic decision which did not go down well with the vast majority of the population.
Re-naming a national institution after someone who was a member of an appointed interim body in this our 50th year of political independence speaks to some amount of insensitivity, if not disregard for the contributions made by our founder fathers to the liberation struggle of Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Hydar Ally
