“Everybody in Miguel Street said that Man-man was mad, and so they left him alone, but I am not sure now that he was mad and I can think of many people much madder than Man-man was. That again was another mystery about Man-man.

His accent, if you shut your eyes while he spoke, you would believe is an Englishman—a good class Englishman who wasn’t particular about grammar—was talking to you. He went up for every election, city council or legislative council, and then he stuck posters everywhere in the district. Those posters were well printed. They just had the word ‘Vote’ and below that, Man-man’s picture. However, the funniest aspect of his life was that at every election he got exactly three votes!” (Sir Vidiadhar Naipaul, Miguel Street, 1959)
During the week and now also every Sunday it has become a habit for   Mr. Frederick Kissoon to earnestly make us understand what is so miserable about Guyana and how… he possibly…could make it better.
A former activist/supporter of every major political party in Guyana: Jagan’s PPP; Burnham’s PNC; Benn’s Working People’s Vanguard Party; Rodney’s WPA and now championing an AFC with Mr. Nigel Hughes and Mr. Moses Nagamootoo. He has already presented his  solution since “the PPP/C has failed to ethnically balance Guyana’s armed forces”  as  published in the SN, 15-5-12.  His response was made in his KN column of 5-16-12 titled “Philip Moore: The soulful, yet tragic journey of an African-Guyanese.”

His response was timid by his own standards. Not thrilled but not rejecting armed forces racial balancing outright, he in fact avoided offering any reasons for any disagreement. Instead, he was ambivalently reinforcing: “But why should one deny Mohamed his right to express his opinion that there is a predominance of African Guyanese in the state’s security forces? (It’s certainly the complete truth and factual).  It is for African-Guyanese to write, and write incessantly, that there should be ethnic balance in the ownership of Guyana’s resources; ethnic balance in the ownership of lands; ethnic balance in the ownership of properties; ethnic balance in the awarding of tenders; ethnic balance in state scholarships; ethnic balance in the business community that imports goods; ethnic balance in the sharing of executive political power. The armed forces sector is the preoccupation of Mohamed and he writes on how he feels.” Mr. Kissoon apparently is meditating on federalism which affords such options, except that all would henceforth be entitled to equal entitlements from the national treasury in their province regardless of race, religion or gender. In fact, everyone would be free to live as they so choose.

What was interesting was Mr. Kissoon’s failure to convincingly explain why after 28 years of absolute PNC power, there is only some evidence of its supporters  drive and ambition to achieve economic self-sufficiency and independence.  Why only with the 20-year-old PPP/C government has Guyana witnessed priority awakening economic realignment setting off a stampede?
The PNC’s previous emphasis on militarised National Service and proactively shepherding black people into the public and armed forces ensuring their perpetual dependency on taxpayers’ funds has not been debunked, reassessed or rejected. Can yesterday’s former discredited soldier (Mr. David Granger) or failed economist (Mr. Carl Greenidge) heading the PNC convincingly be better or more reassuringly promising?
What has been hindering, stopping, frustrating or precluding Mr. Kissoon himself or anyone from ever embarking on any of his aforementioned clamour enviously attainable by some of our Portuguese, Chinese, Indian and even African-Guyanese descended countrymen needs sound analysis.  Much was achieved without taxpayers’ money and is still to engage competitive emulation. Ambition and personal sacrifices exercised within the democratic freedom of choice have never been the monopoly of any one person or race group as everyone knows.  Sensible expectations of black PNC supporters rejecting the PPP/C’s economic incentives while they still cling to the PNC because of racial affinity is untenable.   All are equally endowed to achieve but equal opportunities coming exclusively from taxpayers’ revenue cannot be exclusively reserved, confined or made available for one group alone.
Indians were specifically debarred from joining the armed forces by the PNC and it must be corrected. Yet at a time when Afro-Guyanese are seeking to retrieve their cultural heritage and attain economic self sufficiency, the cultural and economic shackles by which Mr. Kissoon has also found himself mentally bound has become a celebrated, grandiose badge of honour preventing him from escaping himself in the mirror.  When some black people clutch slavery as their anchoring albatross what is Mr. Kissoon’s excuse that he laments “others” building huge concrete houses? Until and when Mr. Kissoon has had a Kafkaesque metamorphosis with his friends he would be unable to escape Alice in Wonderland’s rabbit hole. Inevitably, Mr. Kissoon would be cited in history as a source which manacled black economic empowerment. In any case, human progress cannot be forever enslaved by obliviousness or cultural albatrosses in spite of who is elected to be in charge.

Mr. Kissoon can continue to always be more visibly involved in a little picketing here and there, advising ministers, politicians and swamis; he can continue constantly writing about them all. He has already told us exactly why he, would never even speak to Nobel laureate, Sir Vidia Naipaul if he ran into him. Mr. Kissoon can really hurt a man if he wants, make no doubt about it.  Not even the colour of his toilet paper remains a mystery. Of course, his heart is set afire with his favourites Burt Bacharach, calypsonian Cro Cro of Trinidad, Clint Eastwood and  of course Beyonce.  Mohamed Rafi or Lata Mangeshkar is just not his cup of  dhal, thank you very much. With only a wife and one child, he (easily three votes here) relishes writing and writing on everything. Unapologetically he is a gifted, prized achievement amongst more than his Afro- Saxon friends ever proudly and readily accepting that he is no Indian.   His political heroes whom he loves and reveres is the Afro-centric kingpin Mr. Eusi Kwayana, Mr. Tacuma Ogunseye and Dr David Hinds (another three votes?).

His wealth of accomplished literature in Kaieteur News ranges from “same train, same conductor, same direction”, ( youths can become familiar with PNC trains in Guyana); “Diwali, FITUG and Guyana’s circus”; (circus lions, monkeys and elephants  of course rampant in our  green land of Guyana); ” the song, the bell, sung out and rung out”; (ding a ling),“the Donald, de Gail, (sounds like De Gaulle!) the votes”, oh yes, not to leave out  “the dialectic of looking up and down at the same time”, (a virtual acrobatic treat!) and  moreover, “amidst bombs, guns and dead bodies, a lesson I learnt.” Not imaginary. Please look again and run till you die.

Let freedom ring and let us give jack his jacket. If Mr. Kissoon relishes being part of a ramshackle  People’s Parliament which is equated with the imposing Public Buildings  right across the street, a man has every right to his dreams. Who is to judge or condemn him? If Mr. Kissoon can find himself perched atop the Kaieteur News’s apex then this is what democratic Guyana’s freedoms and talented bravery allow and permit.  Why shouldn’t he admire himself? It’s still a free country with a free press and ritualistically held elections. Privileges are not reserved only for the talented few. Look how Home Affairs Minister Mr. Clement Rohee is now under high-honour consideration and promotion from his peers in the Privileges Committee. When ambition can easily violate the Constitution of Guyana (the highest law of the land) to terminate or temporarily deny any of its citizens, more so an elected one, the right of free speech, ever empowered and entitled to speak for thousands within hallowed halls it would have given licence for a child to rape their mother with impunity, creating a monster too hideous to imagine. Let’s hope taxpayers’ money will not be burying the river of dead, hopes and all.