Nothing personal!

Jan 29, 2024 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – The President of Guyana should not take as personal, the objections to him receiving the Africa Global Leadership Award. The criticisms and the calls for the withdrawal of the award have roots, I believe, in the indefinite deferral of the Order of the Companions of Oliver Tambo to Forbes Burnham.

The Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo (OCOT) is the highest award that can be given by South Africa to non-nationals. It was created in 2002, eight years after White-majority rule ended in that country.

Cheddi Jagan was given the award in 2005 for his “exceptional contribution to the struggle against racial oppression and colonial exploitation.” Donald Ramotar received the award on behalf of the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan. It must have come as a shock to the supporters of Forbes Burnham that his political nemesis Cheddi Jagan was given the award ahead of Burnham.

Following the award to Jagan, there was a sustained campaign for Burnham to be given an award. Interestingly, it took 10 years for the South African government to announce the award to Forbes Burnham, despite his undeniable role in championing the anti-apartheid struggle.

The South African government subsequently deferred indefinitely the grant of the award to Burnham following a letter written to the President of South Africa by the family of Dr. Walter Rodney, along with an outcry from certain overseas-based supporters of the Working People’s Alliance which had accused Burnham of being complicit in the assassination of Rodney, its former co-leader and renowned historian.

According to an article in Groundings (Volume 1, Issue 1, 2014), the Rodney family claimed that it was the Guyanese people who made personal sacrifices to contribute and to offer solidarity with the people of South Africa. In the letter to then President Zuma, it was said that, “though Burnham may have portrayed himself as a freedom fighter to the world, the reality and history of Guyana clearly shows that he was a dictator and leader of a brutal and murderous regime at home.”

The Rodney family was also reported to have written that, “to place the name of Forbes Burnham alongside that of such an illustrious man as Tambo is reprehensible and disturbing in any level of discourse.”

A petition was also circulated that was damning of Forbes Burnham. It accused him of being an agent of imperialism (declassified documents subsequently have established that Burnham was on the payroll of the Central Intelligence Agency). It further described Burnham as heading a corrupt, brutal and murderous regime that was a disaster for Guyana.

Walter Rodney was murdered five years before Burnham died. While many Guyanese may not be aware of Walter Rodney and what he stood for, in Africa, he is an iconic figure.

His death broke the hearts of the continent. Rodney had been in the forefront of the struggle for the liberation of Africa. When he was assassinated in Guyana, the campaign for the release of Nelson Mandela was at its high point. Rodney was in the forefront of that struggle also.

When Rodney died, Zimbabwe had just been granted its independence. The government of Zimbabwe had invited Rodney, who was at the time facing political charges in Guyana, to write their history. From all accounts Rodney was keen to take up the assignment.

The treatment Rodney got at the hands of the Burnham regime was resented by the people of Africa. Rodney had to smuggle himself out of Guyana in order to attend the celebrations to mark the independence of Zimbabwe.

One month after returning home, he was blown to smithereens in his homeland, after his party was told publicly that it leaders should make their wills because they had “awakened a sleeping giant who would not sleep until his enemies were crushed.”
It is therefore most likely that the decision of the South African government to defer indefinitely the grant of the Order of the Companions of Oliver Tambo to Forbes Burnham was directly linked to the lobby which was mounted to have the award rescinded.

But the assassination of Rodney put paid to any hope that Burnham will ever be awarded for his contribution to the anti-apartheid and liberation struggles in Africa.

And so I believe that this failure of Africa to grant awards to Jagan and Ali and not Burnham is at the root of the protests. It is for this reason that President Ali should not take the criticisms personally.

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