Dear Editor,
CML John is a Guyanese patriot and an outstanding public servant. He is one of the most independent minded and persistent political persons I have met. He reminds me of Joe Frazier the boxer; he puts his head down and boxes regardless. He also served in the leadership of the PNC and was Minister of Home Affairs and Agriculture. He was leader of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), Co-Leader of the Vanguard for Liberation and Democracy (VLD) and Co-Founder of the Patriotic Coalition for Democracy.
He is a longstanding friend of my father. I met CML for the first time, at a national local government confab at Auchlyne School on the Corentyne. I accompanied my foster grandfather and father who were Chairman and Overseer respectively of the Alness-Ulverston-Salton Local Authority.
Later, while I studied abroad in the 1960s and 1970s and went home on vacation he was always one of the 14 persons I would visit to have a discussion with and update my notes on Guyana.
CML and I worked closely together before the founding of the PCD. I received active solidarity from the VLD when I was fired from UG. Later, I invited CML John to accompany me to Canada and we shared the platform in Toronto as guest of the Guyanese Research and Represen-tation Services (GRRS). He publicly spoke of his role in the elections of 1968. He admitted that the elections were fraudulent, and this was done out of fear that Indo-Guyanese would have established political hegemony based on their numbers. The important point is that CML admitted that the elections were fraudulent and later broke with that political culture and co-founded the VLD and the PCD. He hardly missed a public meeting even if it was in the countryside. He was very popular with DLM leaders Raj Phrasad, Latchman Tularam, Claudius London and Fizool Baksh, for whom very often he provided transportation for meetings as well as political advice.
In February 1984 when I was kidnapped at the airport, blindfolded and interrogated for five days and nights, it was CML who filed a writ of habeas corpus to ensure that I was presented before a judge. He filed the writ free of charge. He also provided office space for the DLM and allowed us to use his phone for quite a few months. It was at a time when we were denied a phone and people were afraid to rent us land space out of fear of the regime. I followed, on and off, his post 1992 politics. He should have been included in the post-1992 government. He had experience. He knew about agriculture and local government from the real world. He had his feet both in the rural and urban culture. He fought for free and fair elections before the PCD and with the PCD.
I salute President Granger’s recognition of this patriot. I hope UG will interview him and keep the video in the library so that students do not miss out on the life experiences of CML on the Guyana land space. One last point: CML has great genes. He seems all set to celebrate birthdays beyond 100.
Yours faithfully,
Shaheed ‘Pepey’ Rahaman
