Dear Editor,
Dr Hinds is someone whose writings I have always admired and respected. He is an unapologetic Afro-Guyanese nationalist who has paid a price for his activism and vigilance against the unadulterated use of state power in Guyana. Lately, however, Dr Hinds has demonstrated a strange kind of hypocrisy in his attacks on the AFC. This is the same Dr Hinds who along with his cohorts has betrayed Dr Rodney by becoming a junior partner (Hinds’ words) in a coalition in which he, Dr Hinds, accuses one of its members of having a hand in the murder of Dr Rodney. As far as I can tell Dr Hinds has tap-danced around the coalition handling of the CoI report while some of his colleagues sit comfortably in the bosom of that coalition and have gone completely silent on Walter Rodney. Dr Hinds keeps referring to the WPA as a junior partner. With all due respect, the WPA role in the coalition is an accommodation to Dr Rupert Roopnaraine. Junior partners usually have a voice and a lot more say in the direction of any organization to which they belong. This brings me to Dr Hinds’ strange attacks on the AFC.
It seems as if Dr Hinds is using the AFC as a convenient cover for his frustration with the coalition’s stewardship of the nation. Dr Hinds is either unwilling or unable to place blame where it rightfully belongs. Here is Dr Hinds in his own words:
“AFC members see it fit to use their power to attack and threaten David Hinds, but they have not used their power to recover a single cent of the assets stolen by the PPP cabal. They have not used their power to push for justice for Courtney Crum-Ewing and the many who were murdered over the last few decades. They have not issued press releases against the merchants of death that still stalk Guyana. They have not attacked the clear censorship and political bullying in the state-owned media. They stopped hollering at the PPP since they got the throne that the PPP had. They have not used their power to stand up for the dignity of street vendors, the poor and the powerless.”
Here is a simple question for Dr Hinds. Who really holds the power to do any of these things referred to above? AFC or APNU? I bet every high school child in Guyana knows the answer to this question. I will even add another question. Who reneged on the terms and agreements of the Cummingsburg Accord?
There is power drunkenness emanating from the coalition, but it’s not from the AFC camp and everyone knows it. The real question is, does Dr Hinds have the courage of his conviction to tell the emperor he has no clothes on?
Yours faithfully,
Courtney Lane
