By Dr. David Hinds- I notice the president of our republic and members of his party are busy denouncing me for desecrating the legacy of Dr. Walter Rodney. My sin lies in my courage to raise in the open a dangerous development whereby the ruling party is using some of its new converts to go into selective communities to solicit the votes of poor people in exchange for government and State resources. Such action is called “vote buying,” a practice that is not permitted by the constitution or by statutes and flies in the face of democratic engagement.
In passing let me say that I was part of the Walter Rodney cadre of Freedom Fighters. We fought for the right of Guyanese to join any political party of their choice. We fought for the right of political parties to recruit in any community.
I will fight to protect and preserve those rights till the day I die. But we did not die and go to jail for the right of political parties to use State resources to buy votes. I will fight against such practice till the day I die.
My critics are preoccupied by my descriptive words, but they ignore my message. I chose to use folk language. The words used are borrowed from the title of a calypso sung by Trinidadian calypsonian Cro Cro .
Where is Walter Rodney in all this? Well, fifty years ago, Rodney addressed a similar phenomenon. He also used folk language. I am in no way comparing myself to the great man. But for the education of the PPP leaders and the wider society, I quote from Rodney in his own words from one of his books titled, “Peoples Power No Dictator.”
“For a small nation, Guyana has produced a discouragingly large number of lackeys and stooges who hide in the shadow of the “Comrade Leader.” Guyanese constantly complain of “square pegs in round holes.” The square pegs are the misfits and soup drinkers who flourish because each one is prepared to be his master’s voice. This is a double tragedy in this situation.”
