Somersault politics: The words of someone I once admired

Jan 16, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – Please read and reflect on the following words of Khemraj Ramjattan in a television interview: “What I will have to do now is ensure the things the AFC and Ramjattan does (sic) make him change his mind again and do the somersault he has now done in relation to what was his positions before.”
He was talking about me. What do political observers and academics who study Guyanese politics make of it? There are two subjects under this discussion here – Khemraj and I. I will discuss me, then go to Khemraj.
I was the target of the state that relentlessly pursued me over a long period of time. Khemraj was there for me on several occasions. I will mention just three. Mark Benschop and I were on remand in the police station for three days for two minor traffic offences. GRA commissioner singled me out for victimisation. Bishop Juan Edghill asked the court to imprison me for contempt of court because I criticised the ERC which he headed.
I could add dozens more oppressive landscapes I endured before the AFC and Ramjattan came to power. No doubt those other episodes are etched in the minds of Guyanese, especially the miasmic substance thrown in my face. Unfortunately, Khemraj is not a political theorist. If he was, he would know my decades of activism and my association with the AFC because of the laws of sociology and politics would have contributed to the AFC’s election success.
Now we move on to Khemraj. He chose the word, “somersault” that I have contempt for in the context used. I prefer to refer to my transformation. Why would Khemraj expect me to somersault back to the AFC when state power was in Khemraj’s hands for five years and he had no use for me in any way possible?
PNC supporter, Sherwood Lowe explained to the Guyanese people in a letter to the press why Freddie Kissoon became a critic of the APNU+AFC government. He said that I was angry at not being given my job back at UG. I will never look Guyanese people in the eyes and say I would not have accepted a discussion with the government of resuming my teaching career at UG. But it never happened.
I will not extend on Mr. Lowe’s theory but it was Khemraj that led the demonstrations at UG in protest against my dismissal. He wore his jacket and tie each day. My daughter was a student at UG at the time, and she and her friends joined Khemraj in picketing for her father.
She always called him uncle Khemraj. Then uncle Khemraj became half of the government but her father never saw the classroom again. This is the man that hopes I somersault back to him and the AFC. My transformation began days before the AFC and the PNC took office. This is a man who sat in the AFC’s boardroom and together with four other elite leaders of the AFC offered a woman the position of Minister of the Environment. But no one called me to offer me my teaching job again at UG.
As the weeks, months and years progressed, my transformation deepened. Khemraj calls it somersault. You can choose which word you want. The vision and dreams I had for Guyana with the WPA and the AFC were completely shattered after 2015. This wasn’t people’s power. This wasn’t the Clive Thomas that shaped my worldview. This wasn’t the Khemraj Ramjattan that I had colossal hopes in.
Here are two things that I wrote before and I am repeating them now. It will become part of history. They will be available to researchers. After the APNU+AFC got into power, the only thing Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine discussed with me was being part of the committee to prepare for the 50th anniversary of Independence.
When I saw the names of the other persons, they were all Dr. Roopnaraine’s privileged middle class friends. I never belonged to that world and will never. Naturally, I declined. Dr. Roopnaraine as Minister of Education not even slightly ever raised the question of the resumption of my UG career. Only one person after 2015 raised my UG thing with the power establishment – AFC parliamentarian, Michael Carrington. He told me the AFC leadership was simply not interested in the subject.
The other one relates to President Irfaan Ali. I received a call from him to meet me. He told me I served my country and asked in what ways I would like to contribute to Guyana. My reply was that Guyana’s future belongs to the younger generation. They say, never say never but I will never somersault back to the AFC. That part of my life is completely dead and gone.
(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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