The documents have the stamp of Thomas and Roopnaraine

Jun 15, 2021 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Kaieteur News – There are seven persons in Guyana that call themselves the Working People’s Alliance. They are Drs. Clive Thomas, Maurice Odle and Rupert Roopnaraine. Two are from Buxton – Kidackie Amsterdam and Deon Abraham. The other two are Ali Majeed and Tacuma Ogunseye.
Dr. David Hinds usually takes over the writing of press statements when he was a constant visitor to Guyana. Because he is out, he is not part of what the seven persons named above do. The WPA has issued two press releases. One is on welcoming the government’s decision to officially recognise the legacy of Rodney. This was published on Saturday. The other was an explanation defending the WPA’s decision to stay in the government with the PNC.
Looking at the two documents, any analyst who knows Guyanese political society knows that Amsterdam, Abraham, Majeed and Ogunseye could not write these outputs. I doubt that Dr. Odle had an input. The press releases have the stamp of Clive Thomas and Rupert Roopnaraine.
Yesterday, I fulminated against the depravities in the Saturday release. Today I look at the second statement. When you examine the glaring political deceit in Sunday’s offering then your skin will grow. As I did in yesterday’s column, I will quote from the item then give my comment.
Quote – “Foremost on Rodney’s agenda was national reconciliation in the form of a national government. For him there could be no democratic solution outside national unity and reconciliation.”
Comment – The WPA entered a government in which the ruling party won by a mere 4,500 votes and never sought reconciliation with the other half of the population. On the contrary, the PNC/WPA government sought vendetta. It jeopardised the livelihood of 28,000 East Indians on the sugar estate when it dismissed 5,000 sugar workers. And to display sadistic revenge, the PNC/WPA regime refused to pay monies due which the workers had to take them to court for and won. Two of the WPA stalwarts Maurice Odle of NICIL and Clive Thomas of GuySuCo had direct policy control of the sugar industry.
Quote – “Rodney accepted that a PNC embraces free and fair elections as normative and eschews dictatorship must be part of Guyana’s solution.”
Comment – But the PPP, which accepted free and fair election and which represented a majority of the electorate in 2015, was not consulted to be part of Guyana’s solution. The WPA was happy to be part of a government that only represented half of the population.
Quote – “How can there be national reconciliation in Guyana without engaging the party that electorally represents one of our major ethnic groups and approximately half the population.”
Comment – What happened to this thought process, this sociological exigency when the WPA got into government? For five years, (2015-2020) one-half of the population was locked out. Furthermore, the WPA did not only engage the PNC. It joined with the PNC and became a sycophant on the PNC when the two parties along with the AFC wielded power.
Quote – “The WPA left APNU after it was satisfied that it had exhausted all available avenues to get the post-Corbin PNC leadership to honour a mutual commitment to enlightened coalition politics.”
Comment – This is immoral fiction for which the Guyanese people should banish the seven named persons above from the territory of Guyana ASAP. The WPA remained for five years with the post-Corbin PNC leadership in which that hegemony violated the constitution, practiced ethnic discrimination, and further depressed the economic elevation of the working masses.
The only reason the WPA pulled out of the APNU was when in September 2020, PNC leader, David Granger, chose the second choice person to sit as a WPA parliamentarian over the first choice individual. If Mr. Granger did not do that, WPA, today, Tuesday June 15, would still be part of APNU.
Quote – “WPA remained in the coalition out of respect for those who voted for the coalition. We felt that the voters who cast votes deserved the government for which they voted.”
Comment – In its two press releases the WPA has said the most scandalous things about the current elected PPP administration. It has referred to the present PPP government as a dictatorship. The WPA operates with contorted logic and continues to pimp Walter Rodney’s legacy. The WPA says voters deserved the government they voted for in 2015. Why the voters do not deserve the government they gave their ballots to in 2020? Is this naked racism by the WPA? When Blacks vote for the PNC, it is alright but when Indians vote for the PPP, it is wrong?

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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