Red House and red conspiracies of the mind

Sep 02, 2015 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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I was one of two guests (the other was Vincent Alexander) of the channel 9 television programme hosted by the African-rights NGO, Cuffy 250, last Sunday night, on Forbes Burnham.
My historical analysis of Burnham has convinced me that he had touches of greatness and deep authoritarian instincts. I thought in the programme I achieved the scholarly competence of bringing out those two dimensions of Guyana’s first Executive President.
I said something about Burnham which to me is a characteristic written largely on his character – fierce nationalism.
Whatever happened to Burnham during the struggle for independence, it made him into a committed nationalist.  The Jagans (Cheddi and Janet) on the other hand, too deeply committed to the USSR, didn’t show the same attachment to the soil of Guyana.
As the years pass and educated Indians publish their experiences with the Jagans, Guyana’s historiography will be enriched.
In this regard, we should thank Ralph Ramkarran for snippets of Mrs. Jagan’s temperament and personality that were largely unknown.
Two other educated men, getting on in age, recently wrote on their experiences with the Jagans. But what is most intriguing is that both men, in describing their encounters, failed to see the subliminal, Freudian motives in the Jagans’ decisions concerning their respective request.
Mr. F. Hamley Case said that on three occasions, President Cheddi Jagan agreed to facilitate the UNAMCO forestry investment but Jagan’s underlings sabotaged it.
A president, if he wants something to fail, normally assigns the task to his underlings. He escapes the blame. This is what happened in the UNAMCO infamy.
Dr. Tulsi Dyal Singh, an undying admirer of the Jagans, wrote in a letter, recently, that after the death of Dr. Jagan, he persuaded President Janet Jagan to locate the Cheddi Jagan presidential library at the University of Guyana but she declined preferring Red House.
Dr. Singh didn’t give his reaction to this decision but in his letter he seemed to have accepted her explanation that Cheddi’s papers would not be preserved properly at UG. Mr. Case didn’t see the subtle hand of Cheddi in the UNAMCO sabotage and Dr. Singh didn’t see the absence of nationalist emotions in Mrs. Jagan rejecting UG as the resting place of Cheddi’s library.
Before we move on to the disgraceful leasing of Red House to the PPP let us quote a most unacceptable section of Dr. Singh’s missive; “If it were properly done, there would have been much to commend the Government of Guyana for leasing Red House at a token rental to Cheddi Jagan Research Inc (CJRI) for use as the home of the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre (CJRC).
“The underlying principle was manifestly demonstrated this past week by President Granger gifting acres of land to Food for the Poor and announcing annual subventions to help that organization with its operating expenses.
“The rationale, in both instances, is the same. The difference, however, is that the first was opaque and secretive while the second was transparent and publicly disclosed.” (end of quote)
How can you equate the Government’s donation of land to a charity organization to build houses for the poorest section of the population free of cost to the recipients, with what the PPP did to Red House?  Red House is a heritage building. A government cannot and should not privatize physical landscapes that have heritage status.
Another aspect of the Red House indecency and the red conspiracies in Mrs. Jagan’s mind (like the red conspiracies in Cheddi’s mind that sunk the UNAMCO investment) is that the PPP Government leased it to the PPP and was using public money to upkeep it. This was one of the ugliest manifestations of party paramountcy since 1970.
Jagan lived at Red House when he was Premier. Burnham lived at Castellani House, and his Belfield residence. Where are these two presidential homes of Mr. Burnham today? The Belfield house was privatized and is in a dilapidated state surrounded by dozens of rotting cars on the lawns. President Janet Jagan turned Castellani House into the national art gallery.
Why because Premier Jagan lived in Red House it must remain in the hands of his party?
The most fitting use of Red House is for it to be turned into a research centre on past presidents. It should be named Presidential Libraries of Red House.
It should house the papers of all past presidents. The libraries of all past presidents would not fill even a quarter of Red House. Terminate the lease and release Red House back to the property of the state. It is a nationalist thing to do.

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