By Tiana Cole | HGP Nightly News|
A proposal to rename the Winifred Gaskin Highway in Linden as the Rupununi Highway is drawing strong opposition from political leaders, who have criticised the move as inappropriate, divisive, and dismissive of Linden’s history.
Former Mayor of Linden and Member of Parliament Sharma Solomon raised concerns over recent maps associated with the Mackenzie–Wismar Bridge project, which refer to the stretch of road from the bridge to the Wisroc junction as the Rupununi Highway.
Solomon said the roadway is historically known as the Winifred Gaskin Highway, named in honour of the late Winifred Gaskin, a long-serving minister and stalwart of the People’s National Congress. He described the proposed renaming as disrespectful and warned that Linden residents would strongly object to what he views as an attempt to erase the town’s heritage.
He further argued that several landmarks and artefacts in Linden have been renamed in recent years, a trend he said has caused growing resentment within the community.
Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Aubrey Norton, also condemned the proposal, characterising it as arrogant and poorly conceived. Norton pointed out that the Rupununi is geographically distant from Linden and said the naming convention creates unnecessary confusion.
He suggested that the roadway should instead be referred to as the Linden–Rupununi or Linden–Lethem Road, with individual sections named in honour of notable figures from the Rupununi region if recognition is intended. Norton warned that the move could be misinterpreted as an attempt to portray Lindeners as being opposed to Indigenous communities, a claim he rejected outright.
Norton also cautioned that the controversy risks inflaming tensions unnecessarily, urging respect for both historical naming conventions and community identity.
The debate unfolds against the backdrop of the Linden–Mabura Road Project, one of Guyana’s major infrastructure initiatives. Officials have reported that pavement works on the project are approximately 75 per cent complete, with overall completion standing at about 62 per cent.
The Linden–Mabura Road forms a critical segment of the planned highway linking Linden to Lethem, part of a broader national strategy to improve connectivity between Guyana’s coast and hinterland. Spanning roughly 121 kilometres, the corridor is expected to support trade, transportation, and the movement of goods and services across regions.
While acknowledging the importance of the road project to national development, opposition figures maintain that infrastructure expansion should not come at the expense of historical recognition or community consultation.
