When we fail to secure better deals from our natural resources, we disgrace our fore-fathers

Dec 10, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor,

I agree entirely with the sentiments expressed in Kaieteur News Editorial, published on Monday 8th December, titled “Cash grant protest”, and I encourage all and sundry to read and digest its contents. I write as a founder member of the People’s National Congress, recall we met at the Empire cinema in 1955, then known as the PPP Burnhamite, when Forbes Burnham was elected leader, medical doctor JP Latchman Singh his chairman, and lawyer Jainarine Singh our first General Secretary. In October of 1957 we decided to change the name of the party to the People’s National Congress, the party committed itself to struggle for political independence. We understood and were committed to vindicate the suffering of our fore-parents who were enslaved, brought as indentured labours, and those who were indigenous to this place we know as Guyana.

The promise at Independence was to ensure all of our people benefit from the land and our God-given natural resources. When we struggled against the disruptive features of the cold war and the oil crisis both national leaders, Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham, wanted to ensure that Independence and later Republican status was much more than the trappings of an anthem and a flag, but we should have some modicum of control of our natural resources, and the stave off the centuries of exploitation by the super powers.

When we see, as is obvious today, our leaders on all sides of our political divide failing to extract much more from our oil and gas, it constitutes a betrayal of our ancestors. When we fail to secure better deals from our natural resources, we disgrace our fore-fathers. We disgrace our fore-fathers when we embark on a spending spree with many projects not satisfactory completed, bring shame to those we fought for independence. When we borrow from left, right, and center our fore-parents look down at us ignoring their struggle for centuries.

When we boast that we are the fastest growing economy we ignore the fact that, the majority of Guyanese are not benefitting from this abundance. Dear editor and citizens as we agonise over oil and gas, a recent survey and news coverage seem to ignore the huge sums being garnered from gold. Let me add that $150,000 promised is a meagre sum, a mere sop to cerberus, as the cash grant increases, not decreases the cost of living. In an article published on December 6, 2025, I urged us all to speak up on things that matter. I now speak up. Are we listening?

Sincerely,
Elder Hamilton Green

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