Dear Editor,
Stabroek News’ Editorial of August 17th, 2024 had, as its opening paragraph,
“In an August 11th letter brimful of nostalgia and social history, Claudius Prince outlined elements of the self-help housing scheme which had been pioneered under the Forbes Burnham administration in the 1970s and 80s and which resulted in several well-developed settlements.”
The contents of Mr. Prince’s letter are neither nostalgia nor history. It is an absolute fiction. It amazes me that the contents of this letter appeared as an Editorial. While I had tremendous confidence in Stabroek News, I now have serious reservations.
While not quoting the contents of either Mr. Prince’s or Stabroek News’ text, I wish to inform the reading public of the following:
In 1961, the co-op group, to which my father belonged, was selected and awarded house-lots, on which self-help houses would be built. The group consisted of 21 members, three Indo Guyanese and 18 Afro Guyanese. In the group there were two single women, Miss Majeed and Miss Monderson. Each of these women had several children. Simultaneously, another group was selected, also of 21 members, consisting of two Indo Guyanese, one Amerindian and 18 Afro Guyanese. The PPP was the party in government in 1961, and Dr. Cheddi Bharat Jagan was the Premier. Please observe that 86% of these houses were for Afro Guyanese. Has the PNC ever awarded even 50% of any project to Indo Guyanese?
Late in 1961, both groups commenced construction of 21 houses each, in East La Penitence.
At the time of construction, and several years after, neither Mandela Avenue nor the East La Penitence Police Station existed. In 1971, Sheriff Street was extended southward, beyond Bel Air, across the back of the Lamaha Canal Pumping Station and the back, or through the Botanic gardens. The extension continued through Lodge, Le Repentir Cemetery, North East La Penitence, East La Penitence and East Ruimveldt, eventually linking with what was then, back road, East Ruimveldt.
The housing area was immediately east of the current East La Police Station. Our house was on Arapaima Street, the fifth house, west of Morocut Square Street. Morocut Square Street is the first north south running street, from Arapaima Street, east of the Police Station. I spent my teenage, and some of my adult years, in that house,
On the first day of work, members brought their own cutlasses, to the site, and commenced clearing the land. Cutlasses were not provided by the government. However, please note that it was the PPP’s Government that provided the resources for the construction of those houses. Self-help house construction was not started by Forbes Burnham.
I spent my pre-teen years in Albouys Town, at 55 Albouys Street, in a yard of six families in three houses.
Of the six tenants, there was always one Afro Guyanese. In the early fifties, the Afro-Guyanese tenant moved to East La Penitence, a few houses east of Vlissengen Road, on Middle Road. While I am not certain, I suspect that that/those house(s) were built by self-help. The PNC was not in office at that time. I suspect that it was this Afro-Guyanese family’s move which informed my father of the possibility of home acquisition by means of self-help.
For the construction, the PPP Government provided a foreman, who supervised every aspect of the construction. Only the plumbing and electrical work were executed by contract.
Workers were expected to be at the job-site by 5 P.M. on weekdays. Work ceased at 11:00 P.M. on those days.
I’m not certain of the starting times on either Saturdays (a working day, to 12:00 noon) or Sundays. On Sundays, work ceased at 4:00 P.M.
My father, a messenger with Bookers, (from 16 to 55 years of age), also had a business, a record store (initially at home). On Sundays, he traveled to the West coast (of Demerara) to conduct business. Since he could not be at the job-site on Sundays, my mother stood-in for him. Since he assumed my mother would not be able work “as a man”, my 15-year-old older brother also worked at the site. Recall, there were two single mothers who were in the group, therefore, my family contributed twice the labour as other families. One of the men mixed the cement to make the concrete blocks, the women loaded the mixture into the moulds and compacted it. A man would then carry the blocks to the “rack” where they would “cure,” dry and “harden,” in the Sun. The block-making shed was next to the bond so the women were able to observe the men as they carried materials from the bond. The women would comment that my fifteen-year-old brother would carry more material than any of the men. So my family contributed more labour than two families.
When a septic tank was being cast, the casting had to be completed before work stopped; occasionally this would be 4:00 A.M. Should casting cease and be completed the next day, the “joint” would not fuse completely and would develop a leak. Hence the casting, having started, would have to be taken to completion.
Materials were delivered to the site during the working day, at a time when group members were at their regular work, so they were not present to inspect the quality of materials delivered. This function was executed by the foreman, who was at the site 24/7. He lived in a room in the office building. Therefore the workers were not present to inspect and reject sub standard materials.
These houses were expected to cost $3000.00; however, our group was informed that, as a result of loss (theft) of some materials, the cost would be $3300.00.
The houses were built about two feet off the ground. They were 20 feet square and had two bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom and living room. My family consisted of 9 members, parents and 7 children.
It was the understanding that, upon completion, allocation of the houses was to be done by drawing cards from a bag. If this event was ever conducted, my father was not invited. He was simply told that he has been awarded the second house that was constructed. There was reluctance to accept the first constructed houses. It was believed that those houses were not properly constructed since the members were learning construction and made mistakes. Also, the front of the house did not “face” the road.
Subsequent to the construction of the 42 houses, additional houses were constructed. Those immediately adjacent houses were raised approximately 6 feet off the ground. This group was called the Bookers group. The members were workers of Bookers. Further east of the Bookers houses, was another group of houses, built similar to ours. These houses were adjacent to the bridge to TUC ville and Uncle Eddie’s home.
To this point, the houses were constructed by the PPP government. Not Burnham’s PNC.
After the PPP government lost the election, in 1964, and the PNC/UF assumed office, TUC ville was constructed. TUC ville’s houses were constructed by contractors. The reason, at that time, advanced for the construction of TUC ville, was, the TUC was being rewarded for calling the strike which destabilized the PPP government. In addition, it was my understanding that the PNC built TUC ville houses cost $15,000.00, five times the cost of those built, by self help, by the PPP.
Readers, much of this information may be verified from government records. The Burnham government did not commence house construction by self-help, if they ever did build houses by self-help. Also, contrary to Mr. Prince’s claim, such construction was started at least a decade, and possibly two decades, before Mr. Princes’ claim of the 70’s. I moved into our PPP’s self help built houses in September or October of 1962.
In a future letter, I will outline the extremely successful PPP’s agricultural project(s). The PNC attempted to emulate those projects but failed miserably. Many of us may recall the numerous Co ops, established, and failed, under the PNC.
The PNC nationalized and destroyed numerous businesses. One such, which was mentioned in the media, only once, but completely overlooked in every other mention of the PNC failures, was the largest ship-building yard in the Caribbean, Sprostons.
Yours sincerely,
Zamir
