Latest update April 28th, 2026 12:30 AM
HAMMY WE NEED MORE GREEN!
A minister who stays in his office all day is going to be an underperformer. Similarly, a minister who only goes out whenever he is invited to attend some function or event is only going to see what his hosts want him or her to see.
Ministers need to move around and see what is going on in their respective sectors. But even more important when they are moving around during the course of their normal travelling, they need to look around and see what is going on about them.
I have said in these columns on more than one occasion that one of the ministers that understands what he is about is Robeson Benn, the Minister of Public Works.
This is one guy who is always on the frontline and because of this he cannot be easily fooled. This is why he is such a standout minister.
One day the minister was passing along upper Camp Street when he noticed some construction work on the government reserve.
He promptly stopped to find out what was going on and discovered that the Mayor and City Council, unknown to him, was building a monument to the victims of the 1976 Cubana Disaster.
The Minister was correct in requesting further information on the job and I support him and the government in deciding that the proposed monument should be built somewhere else.
I know Mayor Green is not going to agree with me but my advice to the Mayor is to ensure that Georgetown has more green and less concrete.
I have in these columns complained about the loss of the traditional aesthetics of Georgetown, part of which is being caused because too many green areas are being lost in the city.
I was appalled when the Bourda Mall, an area of green grass bordered by huge trees which provided shade, was converted into a vendors’ market.
I was shocked when another section of that green strip that divides North Road from Church Street was covered with asphalt.
I am horrified that in areas such as Tucville, East La Penitence and East Ruimveldt, the City Council has failed to move on squatters who have taken up residence and built permanent structures on the parapets.
For example, the road leading into West Ruimveldt is so narrow that it needs widening. However, it cannot be widened because the road reserve is now occupied by a long row of unsightly structures, many of which have their own electricity and water supply.
For these reasons, I appreciate that the Mayor and City Council lacks the moral authority to lecture anybody on the use of government or council reserves.
I agree with the government that no monument should be built on that little piece of greenery near Camp Street where the municipality was planning to build a monument for the Cubana victims. I cannot understand how that can ever be an appropriate site for such a monument.
For one this is an extremely busy area with two lanes which always have heavy flowing traffic. Also, to use that little area of green which provides some beautification to the area to build a monument is mind boggling.
Further, I cannot understand why it is that we are building a monument to the Cubana victims some thirty-two years after the incident. Perhaps, Hammy can tell us why his party and government never built a monument to the victims.
The PNC did not demit office until sixteen years after the disaster and in those sixteen years during which time Hammy was a powerhouse in the government, no monument was ever built. Why now?
Why not then? It is not hard to outline why. Burnham did not wish to have a monument which would be a permanent bother to his conscience. One US diplomat was recalled because of the outburst of Burnham when the bombing took place.
In a meeting with that diplomat, the contents of which are now declassified, it was revealed that Burnham felt some amount of personal responsibility for the deaths of those students and he even went as far as asking the diplomats to have the American government kill those who were responsible.
He did not ask them to bring the perpetrators to justice; he asked for them to be killed. When the diplomat replied that the Americans did not operate in that manner, Burnham bellowed, “You have done it before.”
Forbes knew that the recall of the diplomat was a signal by the Americans that they were displeased by his reaction to the disaster.
And since American support was his lifeline to political power in Guyana, Forbes did not wish to inflame their passions further by building a monument, which however way you look at it, would fester strong anti-American feelings in Guyana.
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