Latest update September 4th, 2026 10:24 AM
David Hinds Right on Kwayana but …
Dear Editor,
Reference is made to Dr. David Hind’s letter “Kwayana’s partition was the alternative” (KN March 29, 2013) in response to Mayor Hamilton Green (KN Mar 28) who stated that “Kwayana advocated partition for Guyana”.
Dr. Hinds noted that Bro. Kwayana called for “Joint and Equal Premiership” for the colony with partition as a last resort. And in lectures in New York as well as in my interviews with him in Guyana and in N.Y for published articles, Kwayana did clarify his statement and position (as reported by Hinds) on partition after his break with Jagan.
What troubles Guyanese, Indians in particular who supported Jagan, is Kwayana’s use of terse language disrespectful of Dr. Jagan referring to him as “power drunk and top dog”. Jagan was the Prime Minister and should have been referred to as such in spite of the racial tensions that existed in the country at the time.
Kwayana’s lack of respect for Dr. Jagan disappoints many of us who admire the senior African leader for opposing the Burnham dictatorship.
I should note that around 1994 at a lecture in Jamaica, Queens, Kwayana also did not refer to Jagan with the respectful title of President during his entire discourse instead referring to him as Mr. Jagan.
Also, it was revealed to me by Mr. Joe Ragnauth (leader of the DLM Support Group in N.Y), in 1973 at a rally in Georgetown to protest the deportation of Dr. Walter Rodney from Jamaica during the Black power demonstrations, “An African thug, sent by Burnham, kicked Dr. Jagan flat to the ground in the presence of Kwayana and he (Kwayana) said or did nothing about it. Mike Persaud was there when it happened. Burnham was afraid of Rodney and he sent thugs to disrupt the rally called in support of the pan-Africanist academic. I was shocked Kwayana did not utter a word of condemnation of what the thugs did to Jagan at a rally in solidarity with Rodney”.
Hinds indicated that he does not “wish to quarrel with the Mayor” with whom he says he “has cordial relations” and because “Green is a fellow fighter against the PPP”. Hmmm! Really! Does that mean that Hinds has forgiven Green for the abuses he (Hinds, Kwayana, etc.) suffered at the hands of the PNC during the freedom struggle? Is that because of an ethnic bonding?
Vishnu Bisram
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