My heart melted when Ruben Gilbert spoke of his persecution under the PNC dictatorship

OLD KAI has met Ruben Gilbert on more than one occasion; the last time was when we had together attended a function at Red House in memory of the late Hugo Chavez and I offered him a lift home. He is a quiet, unassuming man, but possesses a reservoir of knowledge, and made firm by his experiences.
His life is one of silent struggle; he has endured much and I was so pleased that he finally had the opportunity to relate his experiences to the world. No doubt he might still get a sneer or maybe even a verbal tongue lashing from the odd PNC die-hard who still dots the landscape after his testimony before the ongoing Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry; but Ruben’s mindset was forged from harsher circumstances. He will not be fazed.
As far as I am aware, Ruben, at 79, is not a member of the PPP, contrary to what PNC apologist Basil Williams tried in vain to contend in a shameful effort to discredit the suffering of this Guyanese patriot. Ruben has a progressive mindset; anyone who speaks to him will find that out almost instantly. He will support anything which directly benefits the empowerment of his fellow Guyanese; and I am sure, he will readily lend a helping hand to those who once persecuted him. He is that type of individual.
When I listened to his presentation before the COI, I got a greater insight into the life of an individual I consider a friend. People like Ruben deserve a National Award; it is the least we could do to give back to someone who had so much taken away from him by a brutal dictatorship.
His testimony gave a more detailed insight in how paramountcy of the PNC over our State was executed.
For simply writing an article in the then opposition Mirror newspaper, which was not even critical of the PNC Government, Ruben was banned from gaining employment in any state agency, even though he was qualified. They even destroyed the man’s documents certifying his qualifications which he had handed in as part of efforts to secure a job.
Gilbert went on to reveal that after he was successful in meeting Prime Minister Forbes Burnham, the first question posed to him by the PNC dictator was, “What is your politics comrade?” He was then asked why he did not put his article in the PNC’s New Nation rather than the PPP’s Mirror.
Several decades later, the dictatorship mentality apparently still flows in the veins of the PNC, as rather than addressing Ruben’s contentions of victimization; PNC and APNU Shadow Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, continued where Burnham left off by enquiring why he would write for the Mirror in such a ‘politically charged, fearful and adversarial atmosphere.’
Williams was obsessed with trying to paint Ruben as possibly a PPP supporter in his line of questioning, which makes one wonder if, in the eyes of the remnants of the PNC dictatorship, being a PPP member is justification for the abuse and discrimination Mr. Gilbert had to endure?
In so doing, the lead member of the PNC legal team participating in the COI has inadvertently admitted to the brutal conditions and blatant acts of discrimination which were perpetuated by his party during their period in Government. He accepts this much by not challenging the contentions of Mr. Gilbert along this line; and exposes to the world that he is apparently supportive of this treatment of our citizens. Old Kai has not heard any condemnation coming from Mr. Williams, so it tells us that he and the current PNC leadership have no problem with the way our citizens were brutalszed when they were in Government.
If they were remorseful and serious about A Partnership for National Unity, they would have issued an apology to those affected and those who were killed during their brutal reign of terror spanning 28 years, before the commencement of the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry. None came; and it appears that none will be forthcoming, which confirms my earlier position that they are unmoved by these stories of anguish from our people.
These very people will be coming around to your villages begging you to vote them into Government once again.