By GHK Lall-When the history of this country is written comprehensively and objectively, the name Eusi Kwayana must feature prominently. It just must be; and even that may not do justice to this Guyanese grassroots luminary, give him his fair share of recognition, the tribute due. I try.
Elder Eusi has been called a Guyana renaissance man. Though it does fit him well, my preference is for a man for all seasons. He was already out there in the wild, inhospitable 40s, longer than quite a few people live. He is still going.
From the PPP and Cheddi Jagan to the PNC and Forbes Burnham. And left them both. There has to be something stirring in the man that makes him question, challenge, probe for the solutions that have bedeviled Guyanese society and its politics by their absence.
On his own, or with the WPA and Dr. Clive Thomas, and his alter ego, Dr. David Hinds, he has blazed his path singlehandedly. A teacher, a writer, a contributor in so many aspects of Guyanese life.
How many of us can say that, especially the current crop of those who call themselves Guyanese leaders? When Kwayana wrote a book, he wrote it himself. What he has taught the citizens of this country is that a man must think for himself, free himself from the clutches of the tribe, the cult, and the corruptions that sometimes accompany those. When the superstar politicians of today sell Guyana a bill of goods, Elder Kwayana only had the hard truths of Guyana to share with Guyanese.
When I read of his record, I found something striking. This is a man that has a restless spirit, one that is always striving for a different environment, and hearing and responding to a different call. Today, there are those who deceive Guyanese of all walks that they are walking with them. They walk on wheels, while regular Guyanese walk barefooted. They walk on a full stomach, while Guyanese are struggling to figure out from where the next snack (yes, scanty snack) will come.
Eusi Kwayana was and is that authentic but all too rare Guyanese presence: a man of the people and for the people. What they eat, he ate. How they live, he lived. How many of Guyana’s bigshots can lay claim to such a standard? He may be up north today, but the reality is that he has never left the Guyanese people; one forever vested in the hopes and fears that so many have shared in this country’s history. A man always delivering what is frank in dealing with the people. Too frank, I would think, which led to all types of interpretations of his visions, his objectives.
The brand of racist had to have seared, must have hurt. But, then again, it is a brand so commonplace in this One Guyana of today that all Guyanese should have that mark on their foreheads. When a citizen is too much of a certain kind of activist-social, environmental, nonpolitical, civic, economic- the categorization never fails to follow: ANTI.
To be anti-PPP is the now settled codeword for identification as racist and destructive. In the hands of the unscrupulous, it has been brandished ferociously. On the other hand, to be anti-PNC or anti-AFC is to be about what unifies, hence constructive. Though not without their own sizable warts and sores, this is the upside-down world into which Guyanese are pigeonholed.
Eusi Kwayana went against the grain. His whole life testifies to that activism, his convictions. In this country to set out on one’s own path is viewed with a combination of suspicion, fear, and hostility. Indeed, his sentence has been to live with that reality from one of the great books. A prophet is neither welcomed nor owned in his own hometown.
In Elder Kwayana’s case, the disdain has not been universal; plus, the passage of time has been somewhat kinder than his earlier receptions. For a man to reach a century of years given the agitations of his life is itself remarkable. Endurance and resilience. For anyone to keep at it, and at the levels he practiced, in this roiling polity is nothing short of a miracle. And not a small one, either.
I made this poor look, and poorer effort, at Eusi Kwayana’s contributions to the citizen of this country, and there is yearning for more from here with his rare interest, rarer dedication. Just a few more that are about Guyana, and Guyana, and Guyana. Even when they appear to be, at first, the masks fall away soon enough. They are seen for what they are. Angling. Deceiving. Being about power which means being close to the money, with that Pandora’s Box yawning wide open, and delivering its devastations on all Guyana.
If only there could be leaders, champions, elders, and godfathers being more for the people, and less about the people’s money, what a Guyana there could be. Being less about the divisive and more of the inclusive would help immensely. My assessment is that Eusi Kwayana began that way young, from as early as his days as a 15-year-old teacher, and continued in good times and times that stretched the soul. A 15-year-old teacher must have set some precedents, made some seniors scratch their heads.
One does not have to wait until they have reached a ripe old age (after a lifetime of rich plundering) to start living honestly, to speak truthfully, to embrace what the great majority of Guyanese turn their backs on. All of us can begin that journey early, aspire to live simply and steadfastly for what is good for Guyana. That is, less for ourselves, more for what lifts neighbors. By my humble calculation, and with an eye to his human frailties, Eusi Kwayana did so heroically. We could use a few heroes in this country. Real ones, not the blown up, artificial types around.
Through tireless labours, Eusi Kwayana has earned inclusion in the ranks in the hallowed pantheon of the Guyanese heroic. He definitely qualifies to be numbered among the Founding Fathers of this land that is now known all over the world.
