Latest update March 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 28, 2014 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
Do you know how many people in this world, in the past five thousand years since civilization began, have been injured with their own weapon? There will be many more. And that ancient saying, “you shot yourself in the foot with your own gun” will live on.
The scope of the Walter Rodney Commission will take in the intelligence operations of the Burnham Government, including monitoring and reports on activities against the PPP and the WPA.
Could that backfire against the PPP? Could information come out at that inquiry that will reveal that current PPP leaders were involved in murder, mayhem and violence against the Burnham Government? Will the PPP shoot itself with its own weapon during the Rodney Commission?
It was no mistake that the PPP Government included under the terms of reference of the Commission, examination of state security monitoring of opposition activities during the seventies. There is no doubt in my mind that the PPP is hoping to show the world that the Burnham Government was oppressive and did illegal things to the two main opposition parties in the seventies – the WPA and PPP.
Where are those records? Since the PPP has been in office twenty years ago, it may be in possession of some of the data. Maybe it has some of these data which they feel is a trump card against the present PNC. One suspects that apart from documents from that period, the PPP will compel certain PNC elements that they have heavily patronized to give evidence at the inquiry with the objective of dirtying the PNC.
If the PPP Government is in possession of state security documents of the Burnham Government, then surely those collections must have incriminating material on the PPP. Did the PPP do violent things against the State in the seventies? The answer is yes. Who did those documents identify?
Over and over to the point of disgust, I have said to Hamilton Green, write about your experience in Government. He has entered his eighties, but Green is yet to write something other than a short historical account, “From Pain to Peace” for which there should be a new print.
So who in the PPP committed violent acts in the seventies? Let’s start with the murder charge against Arnold Rampersaud. Rampersaud was charged with killing policeman James Henry, and wounding his colleague, Joachim Francis. It was the culmination of days of protest against three toll stations to recoup the cost of the Corentyne highway.
The PNC Government knew the PPP carried out the acts, but identified Rampersaud as the driver of the car. They charged him with murder.
Who were the planners behind the murder? Will the documents at the Rodney Commission identify the person at Freedom House who was seconded to Berbice to organize the protest and the shooting? Rampersaud was given asylum in Canada. He is in his eighties and should make peace with his God by revealing the name of that PPP official who is now high in the government today.
Rampersaud should be as brave as Rupert Roopnaraine, who admitted that WPA was stockpiling arms for defensive purposes during the Burnham era. Rampersaud should admit that he was the driver of the car that transported the killers of Henry James. And he should ask forgiveness from James’ family. If he doesn’t, then if there is a change of government, the new administration should seek his extradition from Canada and charge him with accessory to murder, since he cannot be prosecuted for the murder offence three times. There is no statutory limitation for murder.
During the seventies, especially after the Burnham Government passed the Sugar Levy Act, there were incessant arsonist attacks on all of the sugar estates by the PPP. In many instances factories were burnt and valuable equipment destroyed. Surely, intelligence reports must have identified who in the PPP leadership were the organizers.
This writer was told by someone who is alive today, very much known today, and who in those days would have had complete access to all state security reports, that three central figures in the PPP leadership were the main organizers of the arson brigade. There were three arsonist squads; one for East Coast and Diamond on the East Bank, another for Region Three and the other for Berbice.
It would shock this nation if the name is revealed as to who was in charge of the Demerara operations.
Finally, who were the PPP members behind the treason plot against the Burnham Government that led to the arrest of five persons? Let’s hope that the Rodney Commission gets these intelligence reports so the violent men of the seventies in the opposition could be exposed.
Listen to the man that is throwing Guyanese bright future away
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