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Coup D’État is a must read for all Guyanese

May 03, 2009 News

By Michael Benjamin 

Forty years ago, in 1969, Theodore J Raffudeen departed Guyana for the United States of America in pursuit of academic accolades in the field of business. Five years later, after experiencing severe bouts of nostalgia, he re-migrated and decided to conform to the inner voices within that urged him to take up a writing career.
Raffudeen admitted that he had a propensity for writing and knew that it was only a matter of time before he put pen to paper. However, he was not sure what issue he wanted to address. 
Inspiration came shortly afterwards when he compared the experiences of the average Guyanese with those of the natives of his adopted homeland.
“I was shocked by the status quo you see, in the USA, the average citizen enjoyed more rights than the average Guyanese so I decided to address those issues through writing.” It was from this concern that the book ‘Coup D’État,’ was born.
‘Coup D’État’ is a fictional piece of work that depicts the local political landscape. It also highlights the many frustrations experienced by Raffudeen after he would have compared the situation in Guyana with that of his adopted home, the USA.
Raffudeen said that the high level of insufficiency and corruption disgusted him for the most part.
He also said that the inertness demonstrated by a wide section of the Guyanese society astounded him. “The Government in any country is elected by the people and its primary and fundamental interest must be to serve the people,” Raffudeen expounded. He noted that the leaders of many Third World countries subject their peoples to poverty-stricken existence. “These leaders work outside the interests of the common folks,” he said. He decided to express his views through his book ‘Coup D’État.’
Raffudeen said that ‘Coup D’État’ is a mainstream, fictional work that depicts the many ills that affect opportunistic governments. He dubs his book highly subjective and posits that it would tickle the readers’ mind.
“I am certain that this book will snowball,’ he assured.  He also disclosed that the book was in manuscript format for close to ten years. Eventually, he dusted it off and sent it to a publishing company in London for perusal.
“They were impressed,” he said. “As a matter of fact they felt that it was a sterling fictional debut and I received an immediate contract,” Raffudeen disclosed. He also intimated that the novel addresses the inequalities that exist within third world countries and leaves the reader thinking.
He also feels that the high degree of inertia demonstrated by Guyanese would better be addressed when citizens adopt a proactive stance against the many atrocities perpetrated against them by the politicians.
Asked to juxtapose events in the book with the local situation Raffudeen shied away but posited, “Guyanese can take a unified stance against these atrocities.” He remains adamant of a need for change of the political culture in Guyana.

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