Not an Accountant’s Ledger’: The Heavy Human Toll of British Rule
Speaking at the People’s National Movement (PNM) Independence Day celebrations, prominent Caribbean statesman and opposition leader of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, delivered a fierce rebuke to those who argue that the region was “better off” under British colonial rule.
Addressing an audience at City Hall in Port of Spain, Gonsalves deconstructed what he termed the “true cost of colonialism,” calling on Caribbean citizens to reject revisionist history and aggressively champion the cause of reparations.
Gonsalves acknowledged that British rule left behind specific cultural and institutional frameworks—namely cricket, the common law, the elective principle in government, and a professional public service. However, he insisted that these formal imports cannot be viewed in isolation from the horrific human suffering required to establish them.
“In order to give me cricket, in order to give me the common law, in order to help me with the principle of elective government and a nonpartisan public service, you had to commit native genocide and the enslavement of African bodies, and to exploit the region’s impoverished people,” Gonsalves stated passionately.
He argued that assessing the legacy of British imperialism is not a simple double-entry bookkeeping exercise. “When you’re drawing up the ledger of good and bad about colonialism, it is not an accountant’s ledger,” Gonsalves remarked, noting that horrific acts like native genocide and enslavement carry a weight that cannot be balanced against any institutional benefit.
He also pointed out the deep developmental deficits left by the British, noting that under colonial administration, very few people had the opportunity to attend secondary school, and there was no university or extremely limited access to higher education for the general population.
Gonsalves contrasted the historical neglect of Caribbean populations with the immense financial compensation the British Empire paid to slave owners at the time of abolition. In 1838, the British government compensated slave owners with £20 million—a sum that represented 40% of the British government’s revenue and over 5% of its entire GDP at the time.
“They only paid off that bond in 2015, just the other day,” Gonsalves highlighted, emphasizing that the British public was still paying off the debt incurred to compensate human traffickers well into the 21st century.
Because of this profound historical injustice, Gonsalves urged the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago to take up the call for reparations with renewed seriousness. He recounted his own role in initiating the regional movement, noting that between 2013 and 2014, while Kamla Persad-Bissessar was chair of CARICOM, the two leaders collaborated to establish the CARICOM Reparations Commission, putting the issue permanently on the regional agenda.
For those still harboring nostalgic views of the colonial era, Gonsalves presented concrete proof of post-independence progress, arguing that the region’s nations have “done pretty well” since breaking free from Britain.
He shared a stark personal statistic from his own home country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines:
“When I was born, the average lifespan of a Vincentian male was 47 years,” he said, noting that he was only expected to live to that age. Today, the average lifespan of a male in the country has risen to 74 or 75 years, with female life expectancies trending even higher.
“That fact alone… how can anybody tell me colonialism was better?” Gonsalves questioned, concluding that such arguments simply do not square with the hard facts of Caribbean development and human advancement since achieving independence.
