Latest update March 29th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 15, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
Kaieteur News – I got an email from someone who lives in Brooklyn, New York. He told me he worked closely with President Forbes Burnham, admired him and said he would always defend Burnham. He suggested the interview based on the column I wrote on Burnham last Thursday.
He asked not to publish his name just the initials, BS. Well you know in common parlance what BS means? It so happened that my interview with BS turned out to be BS. Here it is
FK – You said you have an explanation about the imported salmon Burnham was fond of.
BS – Well as I wrote in my email to you, it wasn’t imported. Burnham cultivated salmon and tilapia in aquaculture ponds in front of his house at Belfield. The salmons eat up the tilapias so Burnham had to eat salmon only. Guyanese never knew about the local salmon.
FK – That is BS. You believe that?
BS – It is true.
FK – What about the desire for condensed milk that he requested on his death bed at the Georgetown Hospital?
BS – You are wrong again. A dairy farmer in Canal Number One Polder secretly made condensed milk for Burnham. Guyanese never knew about that.
FK – That is BS. You believe that?
BS – It is true.
FK – Listen to this. This is definitely true not the BS you have been telling me. Burnham loved a foreign liquor named Chivas Regal. He drank it all the time. When guests came to Burnham’s bacchanalian abandonments, the barmen were told to throw Chivas Regal into XM-bottles to give the appearance that Burnham was patronising Guyanese rum.
BS – That is news to me.
FK – Burnham took the urine therapy advocacy of then Indian Prime Minister. Morarji Desai seriously and practiced urine drinking too. But scientists were divided on Desai’s panacea. They said the practice could sometime lead to throat infection. And Burnham died from throat infection. If you were close to him you had to know about that.
BS – I will admit I knew about that. I believe urine therapy is medically sound. Burnham died from throat cancer. I don’t believe it was related to him drinking his own urine.
FK – I respect the Haitian culture of voodoo. I don’t believe I would ever utter a negative word on another culture though I am not sure which culture I belong to. My question is did Burnham practice voodoo culture?
BS – Yes he did. I attended several voodoo rituals.
FK – Did you see Burnham actually cutting off the head of a chicken at the ceremony?
BS – Yes, I did. Be careful Freddie. They do that in Madras culture too. I understand your dad was a Madrasi, so you are one too.
FK – I don’t know what I am. But I know people call me madrass. Anyway can we stick to Burnham? He is the subject not me. I want to ask you about Burnham appearing in high top purple boots and purple Nehru outfit at the North-South dialogue in 1982 in Cancun, Mexico. He sat next to President Ronald Reagan. Why that kind of outfit?
BS – Again I will warn you to be careful about culture. What was wrong with that kind of sartorial appearance?
FK – Nothing. But let me say in this interview I have not made any negative remarks about the cultures of the different races and won’t. That is a line you do not cross. But let’s move on. Why would Burnham be riding on horseback throwing cigarettes and cassava sticks at poor people in South Georgetown?
BS – Freddie I read that nonsense from you many times. It is not true. The security personnel that accompanied Burnham gave out the stuff not Burnham himself.
FK – Alright but still that is condescending. There must have been more respectful ways to do such an act.
BS – Have you read Latin American history, Freddie?
FK – Yes I have and I know what you are getting at. It is a terrible analogy. Such oligarchic culture is peculiar to Latin America, and it went out of style in the 1970s. Burnham’s Latin American style horse-back riding took place in 1984 in the British West Indies. Anyway space will not allow for more than one more question. Burnham rode his horse on public servants who were compelled to work at Hope Estate. Who gave this man a mandate to behave like a king?
BS – I never knew Burnham behave liked a king.
FK – Where did he get his mandate to rule? Which election he won?
BS – He didn’t need to win elections. His ancestors build Guyana as slaves and thus people like Burnham were entitled to rule.
FK – That is not only BS but insane BS.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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