Dear Editor,
I refer to Dr Nigel Westmaas’ article, “Ghana Day,’ culture, solidarity, independence and diplomacy: Notes on the historical ties between Ghana and Guyana” (SN 10-8-23) to elaborate on two points he raised. First, he claimed, “African (cultural) survivalism persisted in Guyana even after emancipation, without any significant population movement between the two countries.” Now while there were certainly cultural retentions against all odds because of the brutal European policies to denude enslaved Africans of such, there actually was “significant population movement” between Guyana and West/ Central Africa through the 13,355 Liberated Africans who were made into indentured servants between emancipation and 1874. They would have played a major role in reviving West African culture in Guyana and even in the present we witness the result in villages like Bagotville where they were taken in substantial numbers.
Secondly, he claims, “Amid the bustling preparations for the Ghana Day celebrations in Georgetown, a significant development occurred as the two prominent political figures of the colony, Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham, received invitations to join the festivities in Ghana marking the country’s independence. What makes this episode even more noteworthy is that these two often adversarial political leaders set aside their differences and embarked on a joint journey to Accra.”
The episode is also significant from another angle since, according to Jagan, he strenuously attempted to have a meeting with Nkrumah, Burnham and the WI leaders to breach their divide. The meeting came off, but on his return at the airport in Trinidad he discovered from Patrick Solomon that one was convened by Padmore, by now PM Nkrumah’s assistant, with Burnham, Manley, Adams, CLR James and Patrick Solomon and other WI leaders.
The episode is described by Dr Roy Glasgow in his book `Guyana: Race and politics among Africans and East Indians’: “It was at the first independence celebration of Ghana that the West Indian leaders in Ghana were able to apply pressure successfully to Burnham. The Trinidad-born writer, the late George Padmore, had arranged a conference with Nkrumah. This conference, which excluded Jagan, included N. Manley, Grantley Adams, Dr. B. Pitt (West Indian British Labor Party official) and Burnham. At the conference, Jagan’s activities were all condemned. There was a suspicion that if he did not turn British Guiana into a Russian satellite, he would turn it into an Indian state.
“…The assembled leaders told Burnham that they were prepared to help British Guiana regain her constitution, provided that he came out on an anti-communist platform before it was too late. After considerable hedging, Burnham agreed to come out on an anticommunist platform. On returning to Guiana in early May, Burnham made a bitter denunciation of Jagan as `a communist inspired stooge’ and proceeded to seek a united front with John Carter’s United Democratic Party (UDP), the successor to the LCP.” The rest, as they say, is history.
The episode is reminiscent of President Ali’s recent attempt to meet the Congres-sional Black Caucus in Washington to answer the PNCR/APNU’s allegations that Indian Guyanese are being favoured over African Guyanese in governmental programmes. Will decisions once again be made behind the PPP’s back because of “epidermal loyalty” over facts?
Sincerely,
Ravi Dev
