ST GEORGES, Grenada, (CMC):
Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has announced plans to build a shrine at Fort George to honour deceased Revolutionary leader, Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and others who lost their lives on October 19, 1983, as a result of internal conflicts between different factions of the Revolutionary Government.
Named Fort Rupert during the period of the revolution to honour Bishop’s father, the Fort was renamed Fort George following the collapse of the revolution and the island’s return to democracy.
Currently, the fort is undergoing restoration work as part of a tourism project.
“We can assure you that when the restoration work is completed, your administration will do what is right to ensure that the shrine that we need to have there to mark our martyrs who lost their lives on that tragic day will be honoured,” the prime minister said in his address at the celebration.
Speaking both to hundreds who had gathered in person at Progress Park and those watching the live broadcast for the National Heroes Day celebrations, the prime minister said, “We are fully aware that for the last 40 years you can go to what was then Fort Rupert and see almost no sign, no acknowledgement of the tragedy that happen.”
“But as we reclaim our history, as we reclaim and come to terms with our past, we will do what is right in ensuring that the necessary shrine to commemorate the tragic loss of our prime minister, members of Cabinet, and other citizens of Grenada is properly erected on that site to ensure that our children, grandchildren, and greatgran children appreciate (the) sacrifice made by our forebears,” he said in his National Heroes Day address.
However, since October 1993, a plaque was erected at the site of the military killings of Bishop and his Cabinet along with others who died on that day. The plaque says that it was erected with the cooperation of the Government of Grenada by the Maurice Bishop and Martyrs Foundation.
The year 2024 marks the second of Grenada observing National Heroes Day and while in 2023 members of the foundation collaborated with the Government for the Day’s event, which normally involves an ecumenical service at the site with the laying of wreaths, the foundation did not participate in the government-organised activities for 2024.
Terrence Marryshow, a founding member of the foundation, said that the families of those killed are not happy with the Government’s decision to move the October 19 event from Fort George. “It’s there where the tragic events occurred, and we should always remember that,” he said.