Dear Editor,
I rarely ever agree with Frederick Kissoon but on this particular topic, I fully agree with his analysis. There is no WPA and everyone knows it. That party died on June 13, 1980 the day Walter Rodney was murdered. Surely Dr David Hinds and Mr Tacuma Ogunseye must know that to continue to refer to the WPA as if it still exists demonstrates a clinical case of delusions of grandeur or maybe even selective amnesia. The constant citing of the WPA in their comments suggests an attempt to remain relevant and represents a masking of their weakness in not criticizing the current Granger government.
Hinds and Ogunseye justify their position by saying they refuse to be overly critical of the coalition government for fear of giving comfort to the PPP. This kind of argument reeks of hypocrisy and duplicity. Imagine if Walter Rodney had used the same argument when challenging Mr Burnham, the history of Guyana would perhaps be very different today. There may not have been a coalition government to defend or to which one could claim allegiance.
Today most Guyanese, including a majority of Afro-Guyanese continue to struggle under this administration. In some cases things have gotten worse for the average citizen. They now believe that they have traded one corrupt and inept government for another in an “exchange” as the man in the street now calls it. In light of this reality, where is the outrage from Dr Hinds and Mr Ogunseye? Should not these gentlemen stand on principle rather than serving up a straw man for an argument? It’s ok when we do it to our own, but bad when the other side does it to us. These gentlemen have shamefully sacrificed their scholarship, their objectivity, and their activism on the altar of race.
On this score the words of Dr Martin Luther King are most instructive: “On some positions, cowardice asks the question, is it expedient? And then expedience comes along and asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? Conscience asks the question, is it right?
“There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right.” Where do Dr Hinds and Mr Ogunseye stand?
Yours faithfully,
Courtney Lane