Dear Editor,
Every year on Easter Monday hundreds of ex Guyana National Service members along with their wives, husbands and children make their way to National Service Sports Complex (the PPP government changed our complex’s name to Georgetown Club, but we continue to refer to it as GNS Sports Complex or “Nash.”) They spend the day reminiscing the wonderful days of togetherness and sense of being involved in something bigger than them as they turned empty land into fields of cotton, nuts and black eye peas.
Every year those of us in the diaspora would arrange our leave so that we could be in Guyana at Easter time. We do so, so that we could again meet our comrades, be introduced to wives, husbands and children while once again enjoying each other’s company and again reminisce the years we spent together at Kimbia, Papaya etc. We take pride and satisfaction in doing this, while also pointing out to our wives and children that this GNS complex was built with our labour and monthly financial contributions. Now, as I understand it, ex GNS members will no longer have a home; no longer have their own special place to meet on Easter Mondays or at any other time, no place to call their own.
Editor, in one of my letters that appeared in the Kaieteur News on 19th April 2021, I did express my fears that the PPP government after changing the name of our complex would then move to sell the property to their friends. It seems I was absolutely correct in my understanding of how the PPP behaves, even though I never thought they would stoop so low as to give it to foreign friends.
The fact that the GNS Complex means so much to so many of us means nothing to the PPP. After all, those of us making-up the bulk of ex GNS members were not/are not known to be supporters of the PPP. So, for the PPP, depriving us of our complex, inflicting such emotional pain on us is no big deal. But there are some other considerations that I ask Guyanese of good will to ponder.
First, GNS was primarily peopled by members of the Afro Guyanese community. Dr. Cheddi Jagan once observed that “Afro Guyanese are at the bottom of the social order” (or something to that effect). Having made that observation, he did not move to initiate any perceivable policy or programmes intended to improve our condition, as he defined it. Perhaps he was limited by the absence of adequate resources at the time. Now with adequate resources at their disposal the modern PPP, which claims to revere their founder leader, one would have thought would seek to satisfy what we saw as a desire on Jagan’s part, to improve our lot. Sadly not so, the modern PPP seems intent on taking away from us what little we have.
Second, taking away recreational space from citizens of Guyana does not seem as a good idea, especially since it’s being done, merely to facilitate the building of a hotel. All the land along Carifesta Avenue has, historically been seen by citizens as recreational grounds. What has been wonderful is that most of these grounds have been family friendly and therefore grounds like the NIS and GNS have always allowed non-members access to their facilities.
With the Qataris building a modern hotel on these grounds, again poor people are being squeezed out of recreational space in their city to make way for the rich to be entertained and excite their insatiable desire for extravagance.
Third, in Guyana it is difficult to identify on our annual calendar, any day, any activity that has been set aside, or organized which focuses primarily on the old and the elderly. All the ex members of the GNS are today at least in their 50s, most will be in their 60s and 70s. This annual pilgrimage to “Nash” on Easter Monday has been created and sustained by a section of our elderly population for their enjoyment (non ex GNS members’ presence is never discouraged). Why would a caring government discourage this seminal yearly activity in preference to giving foreigners this ground for the creation of a hotel? Why in a country with so much land should this particular land be identified for use by foreigners?
Editor, as I understand it, an ex senior member of the GNS has asserted that as far as he knows the land is state land and that there is nothing that can be done. I beg to differ. Even if the gentleman is right, he fails to understand that government’s actions are not expected to be influenced solely by what is legally allowable, what is morally right should also be an important consideration in government’s decision making. And based upon what I have articulated above, who in their right mind would see the government’s behaviour in this matter as fair, as just, as moral? So the question becomes what can ex GNS personnel and friends do?
A campaign needs to be mounted against the taking away of recreational land that served primarily the poor, by the Guyana government. To do this ex GNS members at home must organize themselves for this battle. They must resuscitate the ex members of GNS Association. This Association must seek the local independent press’s support keeping citizens focused on this wrong being done to its members by the PPP government. It must encourage its branches in foreign lands to lobby governments and any sympathetic organization (for example, environmental agencies) in the countries in which they reside for support in discouraging this seizing of property by the PPP government. CARICOM and ABC countries and embassies in Guyana must be approached for support.
Further, the ex GNS members must seek legal advice to ascertain whether ex GNS members are entitled to reimbursement with interest of the sums of money they contributed to the building of the GNS complex and payment for the hours of labour they gave to building the said complex.
Yours truly,
Claudius Prince
