…not as I did
Your Eyewitness enjoys reading the letters of ex-PNC PM, ex-Mayor of Georgetown, ex-PNC Minister of any-number-of-portfolios, Hamilton Green. He considers them examples of that burgeoning genre of writing called “fictional history”. Not “historical fiction”, mind you, since the latter genre has to at least stick to recorded historical facts. Hamilton Green has never allowed the latter to get into his way, and from this perspective, he’s a harbinger of present masters of the genre, like Donald Trump.
Green started out with the book he boasts of writing about the events of the sixties – “From Pain to Peace”. While he’s been dubbed a Neanderthal and a thug, you gotta give him credit for writing a book – something the “bright” Fat Boy Burnham never did! His “Destiny to Mould” is a collection of his speeches by Kit Nascimento! The “pain” Green referred to, of course, was all the dastardly things Cheddi and his PPP goons did then, and the “peace” was what the choir boys from the PNC – led by him – brought to Guyana by turning their four cheeks. That the “pain” was inflicted when the PPP was in office, having won the 1961 elections, and ceased IMMEDIATELY after they were ousted and PNC eased into office, was mere “serendipity”, insists Green. The “X-13 Terrorist Plan” uncovered by the Police at PNC headquarters never existed! Peace Not Conflict (PNC) was his boast!
When Rabbi Washington gave a new interpretation to the Old Testament to mobilise a band of goons to support Burnham, Green countered by saying he was a Muslim, and even announced a new name – Bilal. Didn’t want to be outflanked as the “tough” guy. Kinda like a native Malcolm X. Anyhow, so much for ancient history, and fast forward to the 1992 elections, when hordes of protestors created mayhem at Election Headquarters after it was apparent the PPP was winning. Green insists he had nothing to do with that incident – which US President Jimmy Carter said was the “scariest in his life”, and which took a call from incumbent President Bush (Sr) to Hoyte to defuse. Was a spontaneous occurrence, said Green! Never mind that he always blamed Hoyte for “handing over” power.
He then claimed to’ve experienced an epiphany, and embarked on a “moral revival crusade” – writing prolix letters to the press to push the same. Your Eyewitness wished to give him the benefit of the doubt, but was disabused for that lapse of judgement when Green told Granger, “Put aside the constitution, put aside the laws” during Granger’s elections’ rigging. “A slip of the tongue”, he later said.
His homilies are similarly “slips of his pen”! Sanctimonious Gangster Sr.
…on Public Holidays
It’s always been a great source of pride to your Eyewitness to live in a country that’s home to the world’s great religions, so we can all share in their wisdom. That is, if we’re open-minded and accept that religions should welcome all who wish to share in their values. In Guyana, it’s to the credit of our pre-and-post-independence governments, PPP and PNC, to have allocated two public holidays each to the Muslim and Hindu communities, to join the Christian ones bequeathed by the British.
Being PUBLIC holidays, they compel all communities to at least have a passing acquaintance with the underlying rationales, and, as such, understand our neighbours a bit more. And it’s on this understanding that we can then build trust and become a more cohesive nation. So, as we segue from Holi to Good Friday and Easter, let’s all take time to understand the significance of the latter commemoration.
It has a message for all of us: we are all children of Divinity.
…on COVID-19
Well, we received another 24,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX programme. Unlike Rowley in Trinidad, your Eyewitness has no problem if our Government had “begged” for the vaccines.
He’d rather Trinis be dead but proud!
