Corbin Rewarding David Granger for services rendered

I was an enlisted member of the GDF 1974-1977. I was popularly known as Little Manish Puppy. I interacted with a number of Commissioned Officers. The majority of the officers referred to me as Young Ross. Lt. Boyce was the officer in command of recruit training at Tacama Battle School on the Berbice River. I was in D’ Company, in Pirai Battalion for three years. The commanding officers were; Capt. Victor D. Wilson, Capt. George Arlington Davidson, and Lt. Edward Collins.
OFFICERS ADMIRED
The first two Guyanese Commissioned Officers I admired are Major Raymond Sattaur and Col. Desmond Roberts, then a second lieutenant. I kept clippings of articles which were printed in the dailies which also included their images. The image of Desmond Roberts at the flag raising ceremony was inspiration for me. I decided and often declared there after, that, I was born to be a soldier. I was never fortunate to participate in flag raising ceremonies in Georgetown. However, I lowered and raised the Guyana flag on numerous occasions in remote areas of the country. I always imaged I was doing so before dignitaries in major national events. I smile these days as I reminisce at how naiveté and how nationalistic I was. Well that was until I witnessed Black Venezuelan soldiers on the opposite bank of the Cuyuni River.
I did not possess a high opinion of Colonel Granger. During that three-year period I admired the following commissioned officers; Col. Ulric Pilgrim, Col. Carl Morgan, Col. Joseph Singh, Col. Fairbairn Liverpool, Col. Marcus Monroe, Maj. Brenda Aaron, Capt. Ian C. Fraser, Capt. George Arlington Davidson, Capt. Victor Orlando Wilson, Capt. Compton M. Ross, and 2Lt. Lenny Davis.
ENLISTED SOLDIERS
Cpl. Vibert Sancho, Cpl. “Boonkcum” Ross, Warrant Officer Class 1 Bolton Sutton, Warrant Officer Class 1 “Jungle Jim” Gerrard, L/Cpl. Sugrim, L/Cpl. Moe, L/Cpl. Buck Allen, L/Cpl. Malcolm Grogan, Sgt. Leland Solomon, Sgt. Ewart Reynolds, Dexter Sue-ho, Terry Milne, Bridgelall, WAC King and my squaddies, Herman Reynolds and Dennis Simon are numbered amongst the enlisted, I admired.
It is my contention. It must be made enormously clear that David Granger is a link to the policies of the past. The published reports stating David Granger is interested in being the Presidential Candidate of the PNC in the next general election scheduled for 2011 are not at all surprising. It is a vindication of the accuracy of the oral tradition. It is proof. It is positive proof that, the persistent rumours, especially during the 1970s suggesting David Granger is an operative of the PNC were absolutely accurate. It was my view that David Granger was simply stated a puppet, a crony of the PNC. He is linked to a monstrosity known as the Paramountcy of the Party. Granger is perhaps the greatest catalyst in the process of the politicizing and the policing of the GDF, during the era of Forbes Burnham and his ruthlessness. One must bear in mind, between 1961 and 1977; there seems a propensity of coups by the Military in various regions of the developing world. In fact, on April 21, 1970 Lieutenants’ Raffique Shah and Reginald Andrew Lassalle led a group of soldiers in what became known as Teteron Barracks uprising. It was indeed a short-lived attempt aimed at overthrowing the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. Please note no such attempt was ever propagated in the GDF. Was it the effect of David Granger, the fear of the aftermath of snitching or the fear of being labelled a traitor to the African race? Whatever it was, I am sure several factors contributed to this failure.
I charge the possibility of David Granger being selected as the Presidential Candidate of the PNC is nothing more than reward for services rendered to the PNC, 1966-1992
THE IMAGE OF THE GDF?
What was the image of the GDF? The military was not a singular entity. The military was an arm of the PNC. David Granger was a lackey of the outrageous dictator, Prime Minister Forbes Burnham. In the GDF, David Granger was said to be the eyes and the ears of Burnham. The Guyanese electorate must be concerned with such a possibility of David Granger as a presidential candidate. The electorate must be committed to distancing themselves from those associated with the Burnham illegal and dictatorial regime. It’s my contention. David Granger is a facilitator of one of the most brutally repressive periods in the history of Guyanese working class people. Granger is perhaps best remembered as one of the commissioned officers who propagated Paramountcy of the Party in the GDF. Deductions were taken out of the soldiers’ monthly pay. That transaction was referred to as PNC dues. Also, soldiers who were thought to be supporters and/or sympathizers of other political platforms were forced to discard their lifelong dreams of being a career soldier in the Guyanese military. I was shocked when intelligence personnel informed me that I was considered if not a supporter, then at least a sympathizer of the WPA. In that period, although, I revered Eusi Kwayana, the only party which interested me was those in which Sounds Dimension, Mischievous Guys, and Yoruba Singers were providing the musical entertainment. The Guyanese electorate should connect David Granger to destroyed Ballot Boxes, the fraudulent exercises of 1968, 1973, 1980, and 1985 and the murder of several East Indians at No. 63 Village in the aftermath of the deceit of November 1973?
David Granger is a direct connection to the ghost of Forbes Burnham. If David Granger is the candidate the PNC offers - then that platform is in a much more sorry position than I had concluded. Why David Granger? Then, amongst questions Guyanese should require honest answers are; Why not consider females? The political platforms in Guyana have been saying females are not up to the challenge of occupying the highest office in the land. What’s worst? The Guyanese people have supported that scenario for more than 57 years? It is high time. The Guyanese females become militant. They must object to the shenanigans of the political parties. Guyanese females were for the most part at the forefront of every struggle during the colonial era. This is not new. Gertie Woods made such statements in the early 1930s. Guyanese females were certainly not sitting around doing anything but praying for the arrival of the Czechoslovakian Chicago born Jewish Woman to migrate to British Guiana in the 1940s to be crowned the foremost female in history of the Guyanese people. If you accept such notions as factual then obviously you are ignorant of numerous accounts in the history of colonial Guyana.
Why not Cheddi Jagan Jr.? It is known. Forbes Burnham is a godfather of Cheddi Jagan Jr. I believe courting either Cheddi Jagan or Joe Singh would provide an indication that the current PNC is serious about healing and distancing itself from the period 1968-1992. It would be a definitive political move. Such a move or similar that would give every indication that the PNC is making positive steps with respect to correcting and eradicating the persistent problem of ethnicity in Guyana.
MEETING DAVID GRANGER
I simply kept my distance from the likes of David Granger, Keith Ross, Larry London, Hartley Liverpool, Maynard, and Bob Mitchell and numerous other commissioned officers. I am really sure I encountered David Granger on at least three occasions during that period. They are memorable to me because each occasion was progressively worst than the previous.
I recall vividly David Granger asking me a number of absurd questions at Matthews Ridge in 1975, and in the regions of the Venezuelan border at the foot of Mount Roraima in 1976. There I was with five soldiers and little or no ration at an outpost. We had resorted to catching shrimps in the nearby stream. The Venezuelan military planes flying so low over us one could identify the ethnicity of the occupants. A helicopter arrives out steps David Granger. After a few pleasantries, Granger asked me why the soldiers were not shaven. I am somewhat surprised that as angry and as hungrily as I was, I managed to offer up as polite a response to the absurd investigation.
COUP BY MILITARY UNLIKELY
Why wasn’t David Granger interested in occupying the highest office in the land between 1968 and 1992? It is an absolutely difficult proposition for me to associate the word respect with David Granger.
Did David Granger oppose the fact that Burnham placed the policeman Norman McLean at the head of the GDF? That was such a shame. It was reminiscent of Jean-Bédel Bokassa (1921 – 1996), placing his nine-year-old-son at the helm of the military in the Central African Republic. That was such a bitter pill the Guyanese military swallowed. The Guyanese military commanders did not possess the testosterone to necessitate an overthrow of the Kabaka albeit such a slap in their collective faces. The Commissioned Officers of The GDF were satisfied and secure with the trinkets the PNC administration permitted them. The GDF never took a stand in the interest of the Guyanese people. The GDF were certainly Burnham’s army. The GDF were called out against the underprivileged working class people. The GDF were used against strikers. I remember being ordered to cut sugar cane. The cane cutters were on strike. I politely requested not to participate in such an exercise. It was granted. I was simply unwilling and unable to hurt Guyanese people. Unless of course, it was personal matter.
DAVID GRANGER AT BEST
The published reports stated David Granger considered himself a professional. I began to wonder, what was he alluding to? Perhaps he was simply saying he receives compensation for his services. That’s about the truth of the matter. Was David Granger simply saying he is in it just for the sake of financial rewards and material self worth?
I conclude the best thing about David Granger is that he has published historical accounts of the African experience in British Guiana (colonial Guyana). The articles are indeed useful. They are primarily informative. However, those that I have accessed demand further research. They often lack comprehensive approach and analysis. His efforts make truth seekers long for the talents of Norman Eustace Cameron, Walter Anthony Rodney, Tommy Payne, Alvin Thompson and Brian Moore and others of such esteem.
David Granger seems to be a compromised candidate. The business of retreads and disasters such as Robert Corbin, and Hamilton Greene continue. The PNC hierarchy attempting to spray cologne on unwashed bodies is a most ridiculous scenario. The Guyanese electorate must refuse to be bought and sold repeatedly. Election after election the same old story, the same tired situation, the rural communities, particularly those on the East Coast of Demerara have taken serous beating during the last sixty years and has gotten progressively worst year after year, yet the electorate has time and again thrown their support and their votes to the PNC and the PPP and has not reaped any benefits whatsoever. What are the rural communities producing? At the beginnings of my sojourn the Mighty Sparrow used to sing a song which said “one BG plantain full up my belly.” I recently purchased plantains on Fulton Street in Brooklyn. The plantains were labelled products of Colombia and Peru. Don’t you think I would have preferred Guyanese plantains? Between November 1839 and May 1966, the villages of British Guiana were agricultural communities. The people of the rural communities were industrious. The vast majority were farmers. There were numerous District Agricultural and Livestock Shows. I am really quite certain the first such display was held at Golden Grove on the East Sea Coast of the County of Demerara on December 7, 1897. Products of all description were on display. It seemed every tropical fruit and vegetable was available in the rural communities. I am sure the same cannot be said today.
I must also state that petty criminal activity is linked to availability employment and/or the access of a satisfactory financial situation of those likely to participate in such immoral endeavours.
CONCLUSION
No social scientist would dare to favourably compare David Granger with the likes of Thomas Sankara, Yakubu Gowon, Idi Amin Dada Oumee, Douglas McArthur, George Patton, and easily the greatest soldier in the American experience, Antonio Maceo. I suppose David Granger is perhaps, familiar with print media on the lives of the above mentioned and others. I am well aware he fancies himself a historian.
I must call attention to the electorate especially those of the Golden Grove, Nabaclis, Victoria, Buxton and Friendship and other communities, on the East Sea Coast of Demerara, to reject David Granger if ever he is chosen to be the PNC Presidential Candidate. I also demand of the people of the villages of my maternal ancestry to refrain from voting for the PNC or the PPP. I call upon the people of the East Sea Coast of Demerara, and the Corentyne Coast to vote for the AFC.
I call upon the electorate to demand change in the political atmosphere in their communities. The electorate must simply refuse to be repeatedly taken for granted. The electorate must demand development and industry of their communities in exchange for their votes. The electorate must demand that they elect the members of a parliament as they did following the elections of 1953, 1957 and 1961. It is obvious. The political platforms have the authority of choosing the parliamentarians. That’s certainly not consistent with the democratic process they claim to uphold. The electorate must demand that Guiana be divided into numerous electoral districts as it were during the elections of 1953, 1957 and 1961. I charge that’s more in line with the philosophy that each vote is relevant to the process. The electorate must demand the self-government of their communities at the local government level in exchange for their support. It is high time the national government is excluded from village administration. The various administrations of the Government of Guyana have made a mockery of the process of Village Administration. Now, the administration of villages is worst than it was following any ordinance in the last half of the nineteenth century. What’s the agenda of each of the political parties for the people and community of your interest? I further think the Guyanese people must in 2011 abandon the political platforms that have done absolutely nothing during the last 57 years baring the period of the interim Government, 1954-1957. I would prefer to witness the WPA and other parties aligning themselves with the AFC. Wouldn’t you wish to witness a Guyanese of Portuguese, Chinese, and indigenous heritage being elected to the highest office of the land? Would the electorate elect a really Guyanese female as the President of Guyana? I’d love to witness change in the political climate in Guyana. But I doubt I would be alive to witness such an occurrence in Guyana. Chances are, there would be snow storms in Guyana before the Guyanese people change their disastrous practices and elect an administration other than either the PPP or the PNC. Just think about it. It seems the faces change, the names change, the physical appearance change but the politicians are allowed to remain male dominated, male chauvinistic, corrupt, inept, decidedly racist and mediocre. That is simply in a nutshell the horrendous spectre of the political climate in Guyana covering the last sixty years. No change is in sight. There’s no light in the tunnel.
Little Manish Puppy,
Regimental Number 3642
D’ Company, March 1974- November 15, 1977