It was during the time when Public Servants, no matter how high up the ladder (except for a favoured few) were forced to labour during weekends at Hope Estate, East Coast Demerara for free.

It was a time when terror was the order of the day and free speech and movement were mere visions in the souls of the freedom-fighters.’
I remember as a very young wife and mother working at the Guyana National Engineering Corporation Ltd (GNEC) as Special Assistant/Confidential Secretary to Mr. Vibart Williams, who first served as Superintendent of the Wharf and Stevedore Department, then as Shipping Manager, where our first office overlooked the wharf.

Vibart was more than a boss. He was like a protective big brother because I was then very shy and reserved; and he and his wife Elaine were my friends and confidantes.

It was during the time that most foodstuff and basic commodities, including baby foods, were banned, with the average householder being treated like a criminal if caught with items prohibited under Burnham’s decree.

Ship captains often invited us to lunch and gave us as gift items of banned foodstuff; and I remember that, although Guynec’s guards would let us out without searches, the police would be waiting outside the gates as Vibart drove me home in the nights and search the vehicle, seizing the bags of foodstuff and threatening to charge us.

We never feared forthcoming charges because the police, like every other ordinary citizen, were eager for the onions, garlic, split peas, flour, baby foods, milk, etc, that they were seizing from us, and if they had charged us then they would have had to give up the items that they needed in their own homes.

Vibart was this perfect gentleman whom I loved dearly because he was always circumspect in his behaviour, but he was driven to cursing as we stood on the verandah of our office many late nights into the wee hours, watching as containers of banned commodities and luxury items bypassed Customs officers and were laden directly from ship to trucks that were headed to the homes of the privileged in the society.

He had a very big heart and he hated with a passion to see young children who should be in school, mothers clutching babies, and old people who could barely walk lining up for hours in the broiling sun or pouring rain – lining up for small amounts of commodities that were allowed – two pints kerosene oil, one roll toilet tissue, one tub butter, a couple pints of rice, et cetera.

It was during the time when Public Servants, no matter how high up the ladder (except for a favoured few) were forced to labour during weekends at Hope Estate, East Coast Demerara for free.

It was a time when terror was the order of the day and free speech and movement were mere visions in the souls of the freedom-fighters.

It was a time when freedom-fighters were jailed or killed and ballot boxes were seized and the dead voted.

It was a time when the average worker, including Public Servants, lived like beggars while the nation was pauperized to fill the coffers of an elite few.

It was the time when both Robert Corbin and Richard Van West-Charles were senior functionaries of Burnham’s PNC Government, and both enjoyed the lavish lifestyles of the favoured, while the ordinary citizen went hungry and homeless, and were persecuted, even to the point of losing their lives, if they dared to protest.

The fear factor controlled the nation and both Corbin and Van West-Charles were powerful players and key protagonists in the hierarchy.

The difference between Corbin and Van West-Charles?

When Burnham died and the pickings became lean, Van West-Charles packed up his bags and his family and ran to healthier climes, while Corbin stayed the course and helped to keep the PNC alive, and anyone knowing the recent history of this country knows Corbin sustained the PNC under severe and gruelling conditions.

I am a fan of neither man, but I have always abhorred injustice and ingratitude – and I detest with a passion persons who act with dishonour.

Also, while my love for the Jagans and my respect for their legacy of giving their all for this nation rejects the thought of returning the country to its previous state of devastation under PNC rule, I have had great friendships and shared wonderful relationships with individual members within the PNC – the late Deryck Bernard being one.

But what angers and disgusts me is that this opportunist, Van West-Charles, who enjoyed the good life in a First-World nation while Corbin struggled with the declining fortunes of the PNC has, according to a media report from a circulated statement, brought transportation for the team leaders to travel around the country to intensify the campaign against Corbin, who is recovering in New York from surgery.

How dishonourable it is to wait until the man is down, most likely from the stress caused from attempting to hold the Party together during the testing times of the recent past, before manoeuvring with his equally wealthy sidekicks to kick him further down.

There are rules within every institution, much like a family, that demands that differences and disagreements be kept within the confines of the institution, and anyone making a power-play by “airing dirty linen in public” can very well send the entire structure crashing.

When that occurs it is considered proper policy – much like excising diseased flesh from a healthy organ, or amputating a limb before gangrene causes the shutdown of the entire body, to remove that person from decision-making fora within that institution.

Prakash Ramjattan was one of the hardest workers, one of the biggest contributors, one of the most beloved members of the People’s Progressive Party, but he suffered the same fate of McAllister when he went that route, yet the PPP did not collapse, despite dire prognostications.

They rallied around their leadership (and there were severe disagreements, because Prakash had his loyal followers), but loyalty to the institution that was the PPP was paramount and the unity of the Party prevailed.

How has Van West-Charles proven his leadership qualities?

He came here in a privileged position as Burnham’s son-in-law, was elevated to the position of Minister over Party stalwarts who had proven themselves over years.

Under his stewardship the excellent Health system that Janet Jagan as Health Minister had established collapsed, to the extent that rats were eating babies alive in hospitals, and when his position of privilege became redundant through the death of his indulgent father-in-law he put his tail between his legs and ran.

Then how has he shown care for PNC supporters over the years?

He has a few rich backers and can display the volume of his fortune to impress the greedy, but why the concern for the PNC so suddenly, and the promise to take the Party in a different direction?

How would this redound to the benefit of the average PNC supporter when, as a privileged member of Burnham’s household – and presumably with some degree of influence with his father-in-law, he did not challenge the destructive policies of his father-in-law?

No-one did as much to destroy the PNC as Burnham did, when even the staunchest supporters in the strongest PNC bastion – the bauxite workers in Linden, rallied under the GUARD movement and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions in Guyana (FITUG) in a bid to oust the administration because of the fallout from PNC excesses that was devastating the nation?

Where was Van West-Charles then when Corbin was being splattered with the figurative rotten eggs?

How do this privileged Van West-Charles and his equally privileged supporters relate to the PNC rank-and-file members, whom he will be meeting, driving in his fancy vehicles across the country?

What could he promise them – that he has had a vision that transformed his selfishness into caring for them and will provide for them in the future?

Provide the nation’s real estate and assets to his friends is more like it, because that is the tradition that he knows.

The least he could have done was wait until Corbin was on his feet and able to fight on a level playing field, not take advantage of the man’s illness to strategically make a power-play.

How dishonourable can one get when one gets greedy for wealth or power? Van West-Charles has just answered that question.