Dear Editor,
Early in the life of the Coalition Government, I was approached by Mr Lennox Benjamin, Chief Statis-tician, Bureau of Statistics about the Government providing a permanent home for the Bureau. At the time, the Bureau was housed in three separate offices, in different locations. This was affecting the Bureau’s ability to provide an efficient and effective service to the public and the regional and international community.
Mr. Benjamin’s plea resonated with me. For 60 years since its establishment, the Bureau had existed in borrowed or rented buildings, but never one that it could proudly call its own. Our search led to the identification of the building that previously housed the Customs and Excise Department, affectionately called Customs House. This building was virtually abandoned and left to decay, after the staff was incorporated under the new Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and relocated to Camp Street. At the time of inspection, circa July 2015, Customs House was a receptacle for garbage, old files of various government departments and vagrants. Further investigation also revealed that the building was slated to be privatised to a close associate of the PPP/C.
Cabinet agreed with my recommendation for the building to be used as the permanent headquarters of the Bureau. Less than two years after that decision, the new, spanking headquarters of the Bureau was commissioned, on April 7, 2017, at a cost of $160 million. This would not have been accomplished without the tireless efforts of Mr Benjamin. Spanning over 50 years – and serving under the tutelage of Pamela Chase (the first, and so far, the only woman to be Chief Statistician; and Mr. Bertrand Bowman) – Mr Benjamin has had a long, dedicated and distinguished career in the public service, especially in the field of statistics. For this, he was rewarded with a national honour, Cacique Crown of Honour (CCH), in 2011.
The reason for this letter is to call for the renaming of the statistical office to “Lennox Benjamin National Bureau of Statistics”, in honour of this outstanding public servant. In the past, several buildings, places, streets, etc. have been named for persons, mostly dead. I recall, for example, JC Chandisingh School, Lilian Dewar College of Education, Cyril Potter College of Education, Felix Austin Police College, Richard Faikall Police College, Walter Rodney National Archives of Guyana, Arthur Chung Convention Centre, and Bertram Collins College of the Public Sector (which was closed by the PPP/C). Recently, the Ministry of Education has been naming schools’ annexe in honour of distinguished educators, including Doodnauth Hetram Wing at Queen’s College; Maureen Massiah Wing at The Bishops’ High School; and Samuel Moffat Wing at East Ruimveldt Secondary School.
Some renaming can be controversial. For example, the renaming of Timehri International Airport – done to honour the contributions of our First People – to Cheddi Jagan International Airport – in recognition of one of the country’s Presidents – was met with great disapproval. The renaming was clumsily and hastily done by a previous PPP/C administration, without the requisite amendment to the Act. Though this was corrected, subsequently, the name change is still seen as a slight to the indigenous population. Another example is the renaming of the Ogle International Airport to Eugene F. Correia International Airport, in honour of one of the country’s pioneering aviators. The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the country’s apex court, dismissed the case filed by several airline small operators who had opposed the name change.
There is always uneasiness about naming a facility after a living person. But there have been precedents, notably Maureen Massiah (mentioned earlier) and Clive Lloyd Drive and Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, named after famous Guyanese cricketers, Clive Lloyd and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, respectively. In my view, it is better to honour someone’s legacy while he or she is alive and still able to enjoy the recognition, than to do so when the person has departed this world. Though he has not been enjoying the best of health, Lennox Benjamin is very much alive and in service to the statistics office. No greater honour can be bestowed on him by having emblazoned on the Bureau’s headquarters, “Lennox Benjamin National Bureau of Statistics”. I commend this name change to the relevant authorities for immediate action.
Sincerely,
Winston Jordan
Former Minister of Finance