Did Forbes Burnham see me and Walter Rodney as Socrates’ children?

Jun 30, 2013 Letters

Dear Editor,
This is my final reply to Minette Bacchus. To continue a polemic with Bacchus is to encourage her in her pretence to intellectual claims. All her outpourings are banal repetitions of the same offering – Burnham didn’t kill Rodney; provide the evidence; Rodney was an adventurer; WPA knows what happened and it goes on ad naseum. She will respond to any argument with these repetitive asininities. She did it with Tacuma Ogunseye, M. Maxwell, me and Errol Harry. She will go on doing it. All you end with is self-abuse by continuing any discussion with this woman.
But in her jejune attempt to come across as an intellectual discussant, she has self-destructed. The supporters of Forbes Burnham are going to maul her after which they will exile her. Was Forbes Burnham a dictator? Guess who describes the nature of Burnham’s rule after which the only conclusion is that Burnham was a dictator. Here is Bacchus in her own words. I urge readers to read this quote twice or maybe thrice or four of five times.
Bacchus wrote the follows words about how Burnham saw me (KN June 25); “The Forbes Burnham Government refused to employ a dishonourable person to lecture in Guyana’s highest institution of learning. Kissoon was however fortunate under other administrations to be employed where he was given the opportunity to influence young and impressionable minds.” (end of quote)
In 1974, after UG approved an appointment for Walter Rodney, Burnham intervened. Ten years after, he did the same thing to me. I came home from Grenada in 1984, got a UG appointment but Burnham intervened. What I am only learning now twenty eight years after, was that Burnham denied me employment at UG because I was not good enough to teach young people. Socrates was charged for treason for corrupting young minds. So I guess Burnham thought that Walter Rodney, Frederick Kissoon, Andaiye, Bonita Bone, Dr. Mohammed Insanally, Dr. Katheen Drayton were not good enough to be exposed to young students. So we were either denied employment or sacked.
So Burnham, as we are now told by Bacchus, determined who work in their own country. UG was Burnham’s personal institution so he decided who could be employed there. But if my memory served me right, Burnham didn’t have an electoral mandate to decide who worked at UG. According to the political studies I did at three universities, this kind of action by Burnham would be classified as dictatorship. But Bacchus would say no. Burnham was right. He had the right to chose which Guyanese was to be employed where in their own country. I wonder if Bacchus supports the same practice under the PPP in today’s Guyana?
So there we have it. Burnham was a dictator and it came from the mouth of Minette Bacchus. I hope the Governor of New York is not inclined to decide who should work at which place in New York where Bacchus lives. If he assumes that power, I wonder if Bacchus would approve of him sacking her from her job. Now I am assuming all (not most) readers would like to hear from Bacchus as to where Burnham got those powers that he used against the names I referred to above. But I could answer that. Bacchus would tell us that Burnham was the elected President of Guyana therefore he had the right to decide who worked in Guyana period!
Finally, Bacchus wrote that I pointed to some great achievements of Burnham but when she does the same I criticize her. What Bacchus left out (and which she is incapable of understanding) is that I criticize her because she leaves out the other half – the bad side of Burnham. I write on both sides when it comes to Jagan and Burnham. They had great qualities and horrible qualities at the same time. But let me acknowledge that Bacchus may be changing. Her description of Burnham’s illegal and immoral denial of Guyanese the right to work in their own country is admission that Burnham was a dictator. I close my letter by saying that I can forgive Burnham for my employment denial, not the victimization of my wife. Burnham had no right to victimize her. She was purely a non-political person
Frederick Kissoon

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Did Forbes Burnham see me and Walter Rodney as Socrates’ children?

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