A NEW STRATEGY HAS TO BE FOUND IN SEEKING THIS AWARD

May 18, 2013 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Yesterday, I woke up to the pleasant discovery contained in a letter from the Mayor of Georgetown,  Mr. Hamilton Green, who pointed out that he had attended the Independence Celebrations of Namibia on 21 March, 1990 and that  ”all of the leaders, including Nelson Mandela, were loud in their praises” for Forbes Burnham.
There is always a first time for everything, including the first time one stumbles on something that one knew before. When you stumble upon something that you never knew before or found surprising or bewildering, it reminds one of what Socrates said centuries ago, “I only know that I know not.”
I do not know what Green means by leaders being loud in praise of Burnham. But if there was any praise at all of Burnham at that Independence celebrations, I respectfully suggest that this would have had to have been more in the form of whispered acknowledgements because there is little indication that Burnham’s name was mentioned at all during Namibia’s Independence  celebration.
In fact from the text of the speech of Sam Nujoma, Burnham’s name never appeared nor was there any reference to the support provided by Burnham.
Burnham did support Namibia’s quest for freedom. Let there be no mistake about this fact. But the question to be asked was whether this support was acknowledged ten years after the assassination of Walter Rodney, or for that matter whether Burnham’s name was even mentioned during the Independence celebrations.
It has been a long time since that historic day in Namibia but perhaps the Mayor’s memory is still good enough to edify the young people about exactly what all the leaders said loudly about Forbes Burnham.
What is clear though is that Nelson Mandela did not speak at the Independence celebrations.  He was barely a free man at the time having been released from captivity just one month earlier.
The then President of South Africa, Frederik Willem de Klerk, represented South Africa and spoke, as did the UN Secretary General. However, Mandela who represented the African National Congress did not speak.
I therefore respectfully suggest that if the name Forbes Burnham was mentioned by all of the leaders present, it must have been during private conversations between Guyana’s representative and these leaders.
And for praises to be paid loudly, then they would have had to have been spoken when the music was being played loudly because this would have been the only occasion when the leaders would have had to raise their voices. Perhaps, for the historical record, our Mayor would like to edify us a little more as to what was said, who said it and where it was said.
What can be said with certainty is that despite the good relationship which had existed between Forbes Burnham and Sam Nujoma, the latter would have been deeply upset by the assassination of Walter Rodney who was a pivotal figure amongst the freedom fighters operating out of Tanzania where Nujoma spent many years.
In the campaign to ensure that Burnham receives the Order of the Companions of Oliver Tambo, the supporters of the former dictator of Guyana should not try to exculpate him from the death of Rodney. It is a misplaced strategy which will not, even thirty years after Rodney’s death, convince the people of Africa.
A long sought victory for Burnham’s loyalists was achieved when the decision was taken to award the Order of the Companions of Oliver Tambo to Forbes Burnham. That decision was one that slipped through the cracks but it was quickly deferred indefinitely after protests were registered.
To recall the award so close to the presentation ceremony meant that the South African government took the protests against the award seriously and wanted to avoid a controversy.
This decision to defer the award has hurt those who remain faithful to Burnham and want to have him as a heroic figure. But South Africa is not going to be moved by denials about Burnham’s involvement in the death of Rodney. Another line of argument has to be found.
The hurt that is felt at the deferral of the award must also be seen in the context that the very award being was given to Dr. Cheddi Jagan, the political nemesis of Forbes Burnham. This fact deepens the pain felt.
To think that Cheddi Jagan who was out of office for twenty-eight years could have been granted the award for the work of his party, the PPP, is what loyalists of Burnham may consider to be the unkindest cut of all.
And to add salt to the wound, guess who collected the award on behalf of Dr. Cheddi Jagan? None other than Donald Ramotar, the sitting President of Guyana!

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