OPINION: The Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge naming

Last Updated on Monday, 6 October 2025, 21:48 by Writer

By GHK Lall

I must respectfully beg to differ from President Irfaan Ali on the matter of the naming of the new Demerara Bridge. Yes, I know that the first 100 days of this second turn at the helm is not even at the halfway mark, but I am forced to distance from the decision to name the new suspension structure the Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge (BJDRB). With every respect to Drs. Ali and Jagdeo, I do more than differ and distance from the Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge, I object to it. Men and women are not honored in this manner while they are still walking around on this earthly pale, while they breathe its fresh, sweet air. A few more thoughts should help to expand and reinforce where I stand.

First, Dr. Jagdeo himself should have resisted the internal discussions that led to this decision, naming. It is too much, too rich, too early. Let us not make gods of men in their lifetimes. It is too haughty, and daring to fly too closely to the sun.

Second, to be clear, I have no objection to naming anything after a national leader of the stature of Bharrat Jagdeo, notwithstanding my own recognition and public contributions to the contrary. But here is a simple test, said in a few different ways, but coming back always to the same place. If the Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge in October 2025, then how much of a stretch is it for there to be a Mohamed Irfaan Ali Berbice Deep Water Port in 2027-28? Or, to rename the National Assembly, the Gail Texeira House of the Guyanese People when she finally waves her red hanky, and calls it a day, if only to honor her sometimes luminous, sometimes pitch darkness, presence in parliament?

Third, I can anticipate, from the earliness of this unfolding dawn how there will be those who will point to the name Linden and that of Roxanne Burnham Gardens, and say there, what about those! If those and there, then why not the Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge. The point is well-received. But those who offer that solid rebuttal should chew and digest this: why would Dr. Jagdeo want with the last drop of his blood to be hailed as the new Burnham? His constitution once cursed (like the 2016 Exxon contract) is now hailed as Guyana’s holy writ. But it is a bridge too far to name a newly completed national construction after a political leader of which there is such a trail of dubiousness, if not deep inner darkness. And, I counter further: when was that monument to the south of the capital city erected in honor of Dr. Cheddi Bharrat Jagan in the naming (renaming) of the international airport at Timehri? It was not during his lifetime. I need not say more.

Fourth, for the benefit of PPP wise old heads, and the broader mass of Guyanese, even in the former USSR, the powers that were waited until the passing of Lenin to place his name in the national honor register of places. I submit that that should be the standard.

Fifth, since the back of the hand was given to such considerations in the naming of the new bridge, I point to history with which PPP veterans primarily would be most familiar. In the same USSR, Joseph Stalin moved men to have his name affixed into the national geography with Stalingrad, while he was still around and carrying on with his lethal barrage of destruction against his fellow citizens. Consider that, please.

Sixth, using the Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge as the standard of the future, I can foresee with the confidence that there will (could) soon be that time when the National Park is renamed the Charles Ramson, Jr. Playground, or the National Cultural Center or Theater Guild ending up with that same illustrious name on their hallowed portals. With precedent set, why wait more?

Seventh, now that this naming business has started, I start thinking in shades of Nat King Cole’s ‘Who’s Next In Line?’ for such illuminating emblazonment before the awed eyes of suitably impressed, humbled Guyanese. The Anil Nandlall Guyanese School of Law for the World seems fitting, and so does the Bishop Juan Edghill Superhighway to the Sky, if only as nods to the grand contributions of those superstars to the modernization and glorification of Guyana’s civilization.

Finally, the Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge is going to be a mouthful and pageful for broadcasters and newspaper layout editors; even the initials could prove to be a prickly bundle, a tight column fit. I congratulate brother Bharrat, for falling in love with himself, and moving Pres. Ali (almost to tears) to stepping forward publicly and planting that kiss.