LAST week Wednesday Guyana’s President Bharat Jagdeo was invited to visit by two Buxton groups and received a rousing welcome complete with Africans drums. Buxtonians, who packed the school hall cheered when President Jagdeo announced he was going to start a free meal programme, assist in eradicating the negative image of Buxtonians, repair the Tipperary Society Hall and give further assistance to improve their agriculture. The Guyanese President had earlier invited some Buxtonians to State House to a formal dinner reception commemorating African emancipation. Many said they were humbled by the invitation. Slavery was abolished in 1838 and saw the beginning of indentureship which saw the influx of Portuguese, Chinese and finally Indians as the others found the backbreaking agriculture work under the scorching sun unbearable.  Buxton was later bought by freed slaves.
President Jagdeo’s visit was criticised by the WPA and PNCR leader Robert Corbin.  Yet
the harshest criticism has come from WPA’s American based Afro centric activist Dr David Hinds who was born in Buxton. While Dr  Hinds admits  (SN 8/21/10) “he does not control anybody  or claim(s) leadership status …everyone has a right to choose their political friends  and allies  but to do so in the name of a community without its approval is an unforgivable act that deserves the strongest  and wildest condemnation”. Dr Hinds, who is unaware that he is widely viewed as a racist however emphasises that he still supports the “rights of all citizens to share the national resources, including funds to aid development.” Dr Hinds believes that President Jagdeo’s visit was only motivated to show the PPP/C government “has the support of African Guyanese.”   Dr Hinds who is an aggressive advocate of power sharing based on race feels President Jagdeo’s visit was motivated to “continue the resistance to share power with African Guyanese representatives. “Apparently Dr Hinds now believes the WPA is nowadays the party of only Africans in Guyana and he is their representative. Does this not raise questions as to whom Dr Rupert Roopnarine, an Indo Guyanese represents?  Does he speak on behalf of all Indians in the WPA and why was he not made the WPA leader after Dr Rodney was assassinated to emphasise its multi-racial make up? It is widely known that when Dr Rodney was alive he was revered across Guyana and was the acknowledged leader of both major race groups in the WPA.

No one can deny that the WPA has lost over 95 per cent of its Indo Guyanese support as the current Afro centric WPA leadership has continued to claim exclusive ownership of Dr Rodney’s legacy portraying him to be only an African leader.  Is this fair to Dr Rodney’s legacy? Dr Rodney was also a Pan Africanist and still sensitive to African issues.  Absolutely none of the Indians in the WPA have demonstrated any Indian consciousness orientation nor do they champion Indian racial or cultural insecurity which threatens their survival in the Caribbean.  For some reason they are always studiedly silent on such issues or seem not to know how Indians feel. For example the WPA has been completely silent on Dr Kean Gibson’s book which attacks Hinduism in Guyana.  Dr Hinds on the other hand is a staunch admirer and devotee of  transplanted Buxtonian  Eusi Kwayana (his family  moved from Lusignan  to Buxton and he now lives in San Diego, California) who originated and promoted partition of Guyana along racial lines.  While Kwayana has low keyed his original partition idea, the WPA has failed to accept or promote ROAR’s Federalism idea which guarantees Afro Guyanese the right to completely govern themselves in a united Guyana.
While Dr Hinds admits he is neither a member of either of the two Buxton groups who arranged and invited President Jagdeo, he however says he identifies with the New York based group of Mboya Wood and Lorna Campbell rather than the Buxton based group led by University of Guyana lecturer Dr Barbara-Thomas Holder who chaired President Jagdeo’s Buxton visit.  Dr Hinds is yet to explain how he can speak on behalf of  Buxtonians when he lives in America, is neither a member of any Buxton group and he himself pointed out that he does not “control anybody, (n)or claims leadership status.”
But Dr Hinds said: “I felt and still feel that we should steer clear of partisan political involvement and we should not offer comfort to any side.  For this I was roundly criticised by a leading member of the committee who viewed my call as unhelpful to development in Buxton and suggested that since I live overseas I did not have to face the realities of living with the present (PPPC) government.”
It will be recalled that after prisoners broke out of the Georgetown prison in 2002, they were welcomed at Buxton; children were recruited and armed as soldiers until 2008. The Buxton “Taliban”, as they were known, raided and terrorised the nearby Indian villages of Annandale and Nonpareil/Enterprise constantly. When the Buxton Taliban (dubbed ‘Freedom Fighters by’ Tacuma Ogunseye) invaded the Indian village of Lusignan and massacred women, men and children, there was national outrage which even saw the physical harassment of PPP/C government ministers who visited the scene.  The same Buxton “Taliban” was to repeat the same massacre of Bartica residents a few weeks later.
Buxton was reminded that Dr. Hinds had spoken out against the Buxton “Taliban” as their presence precipitated “gruesome tales of violence, illiteracy, hunger, and poverty -the consequences of six years of (the Buxton Taliban’s) worst kind of terror.”
“My words must be harsh as the enormity of your transgression must be highlighted” said Dr Hinds as he scolded the Buxtonians who organised and attended the President’s visit. He said he was terminating his relationship with the group led by UG’s Dr Barbara-Thomas Holder based in Buxton and reminds them “it is an act of betrayal to surrender your people in an election year.” And then Dr Hinds, an activist of Dr Rodney’s long-lost multiracial WPA reminds Buxtonians of their African historical racial loyalties: “That never happened under the PNC government to which Buxtonians had more ethno-political affinity.”