THERE is a three-card trick line of questioning in the Rodney Inquiry by the PNC to take us into the realm of fantasy to show that the differences the PPP had with the WPA were more than disagreements on the basis of tactics and strategy. The PNC has been perennially trying to deflect its culpability in the assassination of Dr. Walter Rodney. This is just another Gobellian attempt at it again.

To illustrate the point, in 1980 at the University of Guyana campus there existed two Opposition student groups which were the Progressive Youth Organisation (UGPYO) and the Committee of Concerned Students (CCS) that were affiliated to the PPP and WPA respectively.

The 1980 UG students’ election was on the card and Forbes Burnham had just handsomely rigged the 1979 Referendum by giving himself over seventy-five percent of the votes. We in the UGPYO engaged the CCS in talks to form a coalition student group in order to fight the elections on campus. The basis of the coalition was on the premise that the UGPYO was strong in the Faculties of Technology and Natural Science and the CCS had an overwhelming presence in the Faculty of Arts. This would have resulted in the coalition winning three of the five faculties, hence the majority. The major difference in the student election versus the national election was that each faculty vote was counted right after the close of polls in front of all the representatives.
In contrast, it is well documented as to the PNC mischief to the national ballot boxes after the end of polling. Winning the elections at the highest institution of learning would fly in the face of the farcical results of the Referendum.
We actually reached an agreement with the CCS and a coalition grouping named the Student for a Democratic University (SDU) was formed to jointly fight the elections. At the last moment, CCS withdrew from the coalition with the statement that its parent body, the WPA, had a principled position against elections under the Burnham dictatorship. Now! There is no amount of reasoning that you can argue with logic of that nature. This was the kind of differences we had with the WPA; purely tactical.
Incidentally, we won the two Faculties and lost narrowly in the Faculty of Arts. The PNC introduced the famous Special Student clause that saw their supporters in the ministries being registered on the day of the elections with voting rights. We never saw them again after that day.

REGGIE BHAGWANDIN