Burnham at 99 is among the angels? Really!

Feb 26, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Kaieteur News – I don’t have a smart phone. I don’t have a Meta page. I don’t participate in social media. I don’t have a laptop. I use a very old desktop computer which is connected to the internet. Because of this attitude of mine, people often send me screen-shots of things posted on social media.
I received an article I didn’t know about but it was taken from some kind of online outlet from Buxton named Village Voice. They should have been original. Village Voice, was until a few years ago, one of the most read newspapers in the world coming out of New York. It veered generally towards leftist, liberal analyses. I read that Guyana’s Village Voice may have to fold up because its original founder wants his paper back and has sued.
The article was titled, “Burnham is among the angels.” Surely, the editor should have changed that headline because it opens up Burnham to ridicule. Burnham was indisputably a tyrannical leader that threatened the existence of Guyana. If Burnham had lived on from 62, by the time he reached 70, I think Guyana would have collapsed with tsunamic force, such that it could not have survived even as a very distraught poor, nation.
Those too young to know about those days should always see that in the death of Burnham, Guyana was born again. It was unfortunate that Walter Rodney did not overthrow him. I believe deeply in my mind, Rodney would have put him on trial. Burnham’s legacy is dead and gone.
Those who pilgrimage to his mausoleum in the Botanic Gardens each year, this week being no exception, where he would have been 99, are dwindling. His children live outside of Guyana and if not in their late 60’s are getting there. Burnham’s youngest grandchild is 45. His subordinates, who shared power with him, are dead, migrants in other countries, or going close to their 90’s.
Young African scholars who want to write positively about Burnham will find it a Sisyphean task. Two things have demolished Burnham’s legacy. One is the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry report and the struggle of Rodney himself, against Burnham. For the purpose of analysis we could collapse both factors.
In 1974 Burnham had achieved 10 years in power. In 1974, Walter Rodney was denied a teaching job at UG and became a lightening rod throughout Guyana. The contradiction here is insoluble. If Burnham was loved and admired how then, could Rodney have achieved such political potency?
The important dimension in the confrontation between Rodney and Burnham was the role of Black people. Burnham was hemorrhaging Black support. It was going to Rodney and not the opposition leader, Cheddi Jagan. Rodney though respected and admired by Indians did not make a break through among Indians because their love for Jagan did not wane and the PPP as a party was still strong in the sugar belt, the temples and mosques and the villages.
The Rodney Commission report is a nightmare for pro-Burnham researchers. There were testimonies that Rodney had penetrated the army and police. When Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, admitted in the documentary, “W.A.R Stories: Walter Anthony Rodney,” that the WPA was stockpiling arms to confront Burnham, the Rodney family was livid.
Roopnaraine was stating what was factual. Maybe the family did not know what Roopnaraine knew. This columnist accepts and believes that Rodney was accumulating arms to confront Burnham. I know the role I played in providing materials at the request of a high level WPA functionary who is still alive.
The WPA burnt down the Ministry of National Development, stole the arms recovered from Jonestown and Ohene Koama had guns in his car trunk when he was gunned down by the police. The police deliberately killed him rather than arrest him. For more on this, see my interview with Hamilton Green in KN of Monday, October 16, 2017, titled, “Explosive Interview with Hamilton Green.”
It needs to be mentioned that because there was a Guyanese version of William O’Neal inside the WPA, Burnham and his trusted people knew what the WPA was doing. At the time, Joseph Harmon was the head of army intelligence and David Granger was second in charge of the GDF. Burnham knew Rodney was using violence. In a discussion with the US Ambassador, Burnham warned the envoy that he does not want to hear any criticism of his actions against Rodney when it happened because Rodney was involved in violence. By the time Rodney was assassinated, Burnham’s legacy was destroyed. He became mentally unstable, was a figure of fun, and wanted to die.
(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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