Mash in Guyana but ….

Feb 23, 2012 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Mashramani in Guyana brings into focus its unofficial anthem composed by Rudy Grant, the brother of world famous Guyanese singer, Eddy Grant. Whenever it is Mash time, that song is played over the airways all the time. It is quite a little catchy tune that has a disturbing Freudian secret somewhat unrelated but somewhat related to it.
The composer is the brother of a man who put Guyana on the map long before Rihanna did that for Barbados (not that Barbados needed Rihanna to become known throughout the world). What remains distasteful in today’s Guyana is that this gentleman from Plaisance is yet to have a part of Guyana named after him.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul began his Test career in 1994 long after Eddy Grant had rocked the world with songs like “Gimme Hope Joanna” and “Electric Avenue.” I was in graduate school at the University of Toronto when “Electric Avenue” was sweeping the world and Grant was right up there with Bob Marley as putting the Caribbean on the map. Today, a part of New Garden Street has been named after the Guyanese cricketer, but nothing doing with Eddy Grant.
Why there is no landmark named after him is something I played around with when I wrote my research on ideological racism in Guyana that sparked that libel suit against me by Bharrat Jagdeo. I wanted to include the omission as a part of the ethnic mess that has long drowned this nation. But I didn’t for one reason. You had a municipal government in Georgetown that was not ethnically biased against Grant so it should have done it.
It is still a fantastic piece of nonsense why the City Council has not honoured this great singer by having something or somewhere bear his name.
Surely the time has come for this nonsense to be discontinued. Compare Chanderpaul and Grant. I don’t have all the facts, but I know Grant has immense real estate holdings in Guyana. I don’t know if the cricketer has property here. I know Grant is seen in Guyana quite often and that Chanderpaul lives in the US. I know Grant has a recording studio in Barbados. Does Chanderpaul have assets in the region?
If you think Grant is being disrespected then what about Desmond Hoyte? Nothing carries the name of Hoyte. As President, Hoyte chose not to live in State House on Main Street but his modest home on North Road. Surely by now North Road should have become Hoyte Avenue. I don’t think that would be sufficient. Hoyte was a giant whose presence should adorn a major section of Guyana.
Is the 10th Parliament ready to correct this injustice? I think it should immediately pass a motion requesting Guyanese to submit suggestions in relation to both Grant and Hoyte. I will start with the renaming of North Road, but I think we should go beyond that. Hoyte was a huge transformational leader in Guyana, and it is befitting that his symbol be conspicuous over this land. I would like to see a prestigious Desmond Hoyte Scholarship that is tenable at Oxford or Cambridge or Harvard at the doctoral level.
The successful applicant must have a sound first degree and should pursue the doctorate in development studies or government. The scholarship should be funded by the Guyana Government and cover all, I mean all expenses. On completion of the degree, the Guyanese citizen should serve the State for seven years.
With the kind of expenditure involved, I would think five years is too short a contract. The renaming of North Road and the scholarship, I would think, should be a start. Hoyte needs much more than a roadway named after him and a yearly scholarship in his name.
In relation to Eddy Grant, I think we should begin with the National Park. It should be renamed the Eddy Grant Centre for Recreation and Sports. And it should be landscaped to look good and tidy.
I do not think we should just go for a street only. Grant deserves much more. Maybe the National School of Dance could be changed to the Eddy Grant School of Arts, Music and Dance
As we are on the subject of Parliament, can it do something about the Cheddi Jagan Centre which was once named Red House? When Barama refurbished Red House, the idea was to give it the title, Presidential Libraries. The idea was to put all the materials of past presidents there. How it came to be named after Cheddi Jagan had to do with the fanatical insistence of his wife, Janet Jagan.

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Mash in Guyana but ….

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