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Oct 23, 2021 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
Kaieteur News – I do not share the views on America by one of its most famous Black faces – Condoleezza Rice – but she did three times tell her hosts, last week on The View, “I am a political scientist.”
I don’t get annoyed when people write referring to me as a columnist. But like Rice, I need to remind them I know what I write because I have the training to research what I write. I apologise if I appear ego-tripping but I attended three universities – UG, MacMaster University and the University of Toronto, going right up to the doctoral programme.
I do my research on Guyanese history and politics, and I insist that my knowledge of politics informs me that the PPP, as a predominantly Indian party, produced three situations at different periods where an African had party authority, second only to the Indian leader. And, that jurisdiction was real and recognised by the other Indians in the hierarchy of the organisation. I don’t know of such corresponding role in the PNC.
The first was Clement Rohee under Cheddi Jagan as Opposition Leader and Mrs. Janet Jagan. Outside of those two persons, there was no Indian in the PPP’s executive that Rohee was subordinated to and no Indian could have demoted Rohee or discipline him. As I wrote before, I do not know if Rohee has dealt with those circumstances in his autobiography, “My Life, My Song” because I have not read it. It is too expensive to buy.
The second occasion was Roger Luncheon under President Jagan and Mrs. Jagan. Dr. Jagan treated Luncheon as his special protégé and made him the de facto deputy leader giving clout to Luncheon second only to Mrs. Jagan. What was interesting was that under Dr. Jagan, two Africans had power commensurate with any Indian bigwig in the PPP’s hierarchy.
The third occasion was Dr. Luncheon, second only to President Jagdeo when Mrs. Jagan died. Again, the Rohee/Luncheon scenario played out. Under President Jagdeo, both Rohee and Luncheon had jurisdiction equivalent to the General Secretary, of the PPP at that time, Donald Ramotar.
The essential point was that, the PPP had African personalities that had real power that has not been replicated with Indians in the PNC. The argument was contained in my column of Thursday, September 30, 2021, “The death of Imran Khan: A loss to multi-racial politics.”
In response to that adumbration, one of the leading names in the PNC’s US-based groups circulated a cuss-down rebuttal. He produced a long list of Indian names in the history of the PNC. I pen this elaboration so that African Guyanese can see that their leaders do not want to change, do not want to engage in rational exchanges and continue the exhibition of deceit.
My point was, there were no Indian Rohee and no Indian Luncheon at any time in the PNC. Here is a list.
1. Sir Shridath Surendranath Ramphal, Minister of Foreign Affairs
2. Mohammed Shahabuddin, Vice President and Attorney General
3. Commie Ramsaroop, Vice President
4. Ranjie Changisingh, Vice President
5. Steve Narine, Vice President
6. Vincent Teekah
7. Gowkaran Sharma
8. Daramdeo Sawh
9. David Singh
10. Joshua Chowritmootoo,
11. Salahuddin
12. Zaharuddeen
13. Fazil Raymon
14. Neville Bissember, Sr.
15. Abdul Salim
16. Harold B. Singh
17. Mohammed Kasim
18. Haroon Rasheed
19. Jean Maitland Singh
20. Gavin Kennard
21. Vibert Parvatan
22. Winston Murray
23. Stella Ode-Ally
24. Rabbian Ali-Khan
25. Jailall Kissoon
26. Seeram Persaud
27. Ronald Bulkan
28. Amna Ally
Those are 28 persons. If you look at the PPP from the 1950s to October 2021, you will find similar amount of African personalities. Here is what this gentleman did – he simply produced names not powerful leaders who occupied real authority in the PNC second only to the leader.
I lived in Guyana when all the names above were PNC ministers and none, not one, had the large quantity of power much less the corresponding measure of formidable influence that Rohee and Luncheon had. This writer knows that when Winston Murray, an Indian, challenged Robert Corbin for leadership, Murray’s entry was met with serious racist curiosities.
The opposite occurred in the PNC when Luncheon made a bid to succeed Dr. Jagan after he died. Luncheon was so admired in the PPP leadership that it would have been heresy in the PPP to refer to Luncheon as a Blackman. Arty Ricknauth, the first Indian who ran for leadership of the PNC, received 34 votes. Corbin got 745. It is simple. The PPP is a less class divided ethnic-based party than the PNC.
(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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