Brindley Benn was the inspired soul behind the National Motto

Jan 11, 2024 Letters

Dear Editor,

I am writing in response to Sean Ori, who on Jan. 7 wrote, “I also wonder about the inspired soul who came up with our National Motto.”

That inspired soul was Brindley Horatio Benn, CCH, who served the nation of Guyana variously as Chairman of the People’s Progressive Party, Minister of Community Development and Education, Deputy Premier, Minister of Natural Resources, Minister of Agriculture, Forests and Lands, High Commissioner to Canada, and Chairman of the Public Service Commission, and also of the Lotteries Commission.

In October of 1958, at the opening of History and Culture Week, Minister Benn is quoted in the Guyana Graphic as declaring: “British Guiana can make a unique contribution to history only if we weld ourselves into “One People, One Nation, One Destiny.”

My wife Lena and I are the authors of The Ants Will Come and Tell Me: A Chronicle of the Benn Family in Guyana’s History’. Lena is the third daughter of Brindley Benn. This January 24, we invite you to join us in celebrating his 101st birth anniversary.

Regards,

Daniel Platt

Los Angeles, California

Brindley Benn, California, Daniel Platt, Los Angeles, National Motto

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