Ganja law: African Guyanese and their political leadership

May 30, 2018 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

One of the tsunamic arguments against Walter Rodney, by African cultural and political activists and Afro-centric academics, was that he turned his back on the building of African nationalism in Guyana under Burnham and the PNC, joined with others, particularly an Indian-dominated party, the PPP, to attempt to remove an overtly African-conscious administration.
Countless numbers adhere to that position, but to date only one African rights activist has come out and publicly stated that Rodney had no right to oppose a Black government. That is Tom Dalgety, who wrote that in a letter in the Stabroek News. There is both a conceptual and practical problem in that argument. Did Rodney have justifications for opposing a Black government just years after Independence?
The answer lies in the nature of the leadership, not the colour of it. Burnham was locked in a zero sum battle with an Indian party. The country was divided right in the middle. But what Burnham supporters continue to deny is that in such a scenario, why did Burnham choose to do offensive things that alienated his African Guyanese?
I was on a panel discussion on Channel 9 three weeks ago with Vincent Alexander and UG lecturer Charlene Wilkinson. The issue was race in Guyana. After the programme, as we sat chatting next to our cars, I brought up Burnham’s refusal to have Rodney work at UG.
Charlene agreed it was a terrible mistake. Vincent just mumbled something about the role of Green. He couldn’t expand; he will not in the future. And someone like President Granger who is an enduring admirer of Burnham will never discuss that fateful, tragic decision in 1974. It was a decision that led Burnham to the point of no return.
How could a post-colonial leader be championing the culture and history of African Guyanese, empowering African Guyanese, and he disallowed one of the great souls of African scholarship to work in his own country?
The mistreatment of bauxite workers over the Riley pension money, and their arrest and imprisonment over strike action in 1976, did not help the image of Burnham as an African icon. From the time Rodney was denied the job at UG in 1974, he rallied against a Black government that he said was not a champion of African people.
The PNC as the party of Black Guyanese lost power in 1992. Research would find mountains of evidence to support the claim that the PPP administration, most egregiously the phase of Jagdeo’s presidency, sought to demobilize the political economy of African Guyanese. There is sufficient evidence to conclude that African Guyanese saw the post-1999 government as hostile to the interests of Black people.
The PNC has returned to power, and there is a creeping sense that we are returning to the hypocrisy of the Burnham era in relation to the interests of African Guyanese. One does not need to consult the files of the prison books. About 98 percent of persons jailed for possession of small amounts of marijuana are African Guyanese. About 80 percent of those that have been imprisoned for possession of those small amounts are in the age group 18 – 35.
The hypocrisy of the leadership of African Guyanese is becoming morbid with each passing day. And the reticence of African Guyanese about this political abomination is equally morbid. The amendment to the marijuana law was a campaign issue by the PNC. This columnist spoke at political meetings during the 2015 election rallies, where PNC speakers denounced the harshness of penalties. On the campaign trail in 2015, Joe Harmon and Basil Williams promised changes to the law.
Let’s look at the attitude of top leaders of the PNC on the principle of amending the law. First, PNC leader Granger warned that Guyana should be careful in copying what exists in other countries. This strange statement came as he answered questions about the proposed amendment. Basil Williams descended to the chasm of shocking absurdity in exclaiming that to reduce the penalties the government needs to hold a referendum.
Williams was a member of the ruling party, the PNC, when the Bill came into effect in 1988. Our ever-disappointing journalists need to ask Williams if he recommended that his president and party hold a referendum before the Bill was drafted. Then there is Joe Harmon who, equally shocking as Williams, in justifying the jailing of the poor farmer for eight grams, said the law is the law. Interestingly, these three men are the top guys in the leadership of the party that Black Guyanese support. Part 2 of this column is forthcoming.

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