Umana Yana destroyed by fire

Sep 10, 2014 News

A significant part of the country’s history went up in flames yesterday after a fire, believed to be of electrical origin, completely destroyed the Umana Yana at Main Street, Kingston.
Officer in Charge of Operations at the Guyana Fire Service, Compton Sparman, told media operatives that fire crews and four tenders got to the scene within minutes, but were unable to save the structure.
“There is nothing else in there that could have started a fire, it can only be electrical, there was no cooking, no human activities going around to start a fire and fires don’t just happen, they are caused.”
No one was in the building at the time of the blaze, but a security guard who was on duty was rushed to the hospital with minor injuries.
Ministers of Government, Jennifer Westford, Robeson Benn and Frank Anthony, were among the onlookers who stood helplessly at the scene as they watched the historic benab go up in flames.
Culture Minister Frank Anthony, whose Ministry is responsible for the building, said that the occurrence was “devastating.” He said it is most unfortunate at a time when the country is observing Amerindian Heritage Month and a number of activities have been planned to observe the month’s celebration.
However, the Minister promised to include estimates for reconstruction in the 2015 budget.
“We will then have to include this for next year’s budget, because this is an important heritage building and we would want to see it erected back as fast as possible.”
He also praised the Guyana Fire Service for its prompt response.
“Unfortunately the nature of the building itself caused it to burn fast … because of its thatched roof in a couple of minutes the whole roof went, we are however, happy that no one was injured. We have some staff here but no one was injured.”
The Peoples National Congress Reform last evening sent out a statement to the effect that it is saddened at the destruction of the historical benab. The Party called “on the Ministry of Home Affairs to immediately launch an investigation into the destruction of this iconic Guyanese Landmark.”
According to the statement “The PNCR has a proud association with this historic landmark, which was commissioned by our Founder Leader Forbes Burnham in 1972 and was erected by a team of about sixty Wai–Wai Amerindians, one of the nine indigenous tribes of Guyana. Everything must be done to ensure that this historic and iconic landmark is rebuilt as soon as possible.”
Mayor Hamilton Green told Kaieteur News that the destruction is a loss to the City’s history.
He echoed sentiments that it should be rebuilt as soon as possible.
Green recalled, “Burnham had contacted Wai-Wai Captain Elca to duplicate one of their homes in Georgetown. He said that Captain Elca and Burnham agreed on the name Umana Yana, as the Captain had told Burnham that that meant ‘meeting place of the people’.
“Elca and his men did not use a ladder, hammer, nail or screw, and only Amerindians worked on it…As Mayor, I hope the government would go beyond rhetoric and preserve all historic sites of the city and beyond, particularly City Hall.”
The Umana Yana stood 55 feet (16.78 metres) high and was made from thatched allibanna and manicole palm leaves, and wallaba posts lashed together with mukru, turu and nibbi vines. No nails were used. Fashioned like the Wai-Wai benabs or shelters which are found deep in Guyana’s interior, it occupied an area of 460 square metres, which made it the largest structure of its kind in Guyana.
It was specially constructed to serve as a V.I.P. lounge and recreation spot during the Non-Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference held in Georgetown in August 1972.
On 26 August 1974, President Forbes Burnham unveiled the African Liberation Monument outside the benab “in memory of all of those who have struggled and continue to struggle for freedom from Human Bondage”. The monument consists of five polished Greenheart logs encased in a jasper stand on a granite boulder. That was not affected by the fire.
(Abena Rockcliffe)

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Umana Yana destroyed by fire

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