PM welcomes move by Gladstone family, calls for apology from Dutch, British Gov’ts

While Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips welcomes the apology by the descendants of John Gladstone, a former British plantation owner, he is also calling for an apology and reparations from both the Dutch and British Governments, since various ethnic groups, specifically Africans have suffered by the hands of these colonisers.

The prime minister met with family members of Gladstone at his Camp Street Office on Saturday. 

“We demand an apology from the British Government just like how the Dutch Government would have apologised publicly. We suffered the same cruelty and crime against humanity in terms of slavery, which was started by the Dutch,” PM Phillips stressed.  

He said Guyana should be included in whatever apology and reparative mechanisms were being offered by the Dutch, since the country was not included in the initial sentiment.

“We are campaigning for them to include Guyana in that apology, we are campaigning for them to include Guyana in whatever reparative justice mechanisms they intend to put in place,” the prime minister asserted.

He also expressed the same for the British Government, noting that he would like them to sit with Guyana and properly look at what the country is offering.

Additionally, the prime minister said the reparation that Guyana is looking for is included in CARICOM’s Ten Point Plan.

That plan consists of an apology, the establishment of a repatriation programme, and the development of cultural institutions for enslaved stories to be told, among other things.

He underscored that the British Government and its monarchy should take steps to immediately adopt and implement the CARICOM plan.

According to him, research is being commissioned by King Charles III and he expects an apology from the British Government after the report is issued.

The apology was read by Charles Gladstone, during a ceremony at the University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus, on Friday.