IN the scriptures, the betrayal of Jesus by his disciple, Judas Iscariot, is seen as history’s most infamous example of treachery. Judas is described as the most vile, most scorned person in humankind because of his treachery. Indeed, when one looks at the life of Judas, one comes face to face with the darkest side of man’s nature.
In our lives, each of us may have our own personal Judas – someone who has no loyalty; no honour; no integrity: a traitor who cannot be trusted. Did the late Dr. Walter Rodney have his own personal Judas in Dr. Rupert Roopnarine? The ongoing Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the assassination of Dr. Rodney seems to bear that out. Dr. Roopnarine was a trusted friend and confidante of Dr. Rodney, and a leading figure in the WPA. Now some 34 years later, in his testimony before the COI, Dr. Roopnarine surprisingly alleges that the WPA, under Dr. Rodney, was amassing arms and ammunition to overthrow the Burnham regime. Dr. Roopnarine’s testimony seems to be suggesting that the actions of the Burnham regime may be justified if it orchestrated the assassination of Dr. Rodney.

The problem with Dr. Roopnarine’s testimony is that there is not one iota of corroborating evidence to support his claim that Dr. Rodney and the WPA were amassing arms and ammunition to overthrow the Government. In fact, fellow WPA Executive Member, Tacuma Ogunseye, in his testimony before the COI, rubbished this allegation by Dr. Roopnarine. Ogunseye questioned whether it was possible for such a thing to have taken place without the knowledge of the Government. He recalled that, throughout that dark period in Guyana’s history, the Burnham regime had turned the country into a police state with the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana People’s Militia, the Guyana National Service, the Guyana Youth and Student Movement, and the House of Israel monitoring any and every move of the Opposition. Had that been the case, Ogunseye said, the Government would have known of it; and if so, he asked, why didn’t the Burnham Government bring a charge of high treason against Dr. Rodney and the WPA?

Ogunseye reminded the Commission that in an effort to silence Dr. Rodney, the Burnham Government had previously charged him and members of the WPA, including Dr. Roopnarine, with arson: a charge that was never proven (it is generally believed that the buildings were deliberately set on fire to frame Dr. Rodney). If the Burnham regime was ready to charge Dr. Rodney with arson, asked Ogunseye, why would they pass up this golden opportunity? A charge of treason would have given the Burnham Government the legal justification to finally rid itself of Dr. Rodney. That the Burnham Government never made any such claim meant that there was no such threat, argued Ogunseye.

Furthermore, in his testimony, Ogunseye pointed out that it was the leaders of the WPA, including Dr. Roopnarine, who were in mortal danger and lived in fear of their lives throughout that dark period in Guyana’s history. He recalled the execution of WPA members Edward Dublin and Ohene Koama. Dublin was shot in Linden and his body dumped at a construction site. The police, Ogunseye told the Commission, later claimed that Dublin was shot trying to steal cement; and that Koama was killed by the Police Death Squad who accused him of trying to open fire on them.

Ogunseye continued that these executions, the beating up and harassment of many of the WPA members, were actually identified in a handbook prepared by the Burnham Government. Given the fact that the WPA could not even defend itself during that period, one has to wonder how it is possible that it could have been planning an armed insurrection.

Similar testimony from WPA founding member, Eusi Kwayana, also rubbished this allegation by Dr. Roopnarine. Kwayana contended that Dr. Rodney was not a violent man by nature. Dr. Rodney, he said, was more interested in opening the eyes of his fellow Guyanese to the race card conveniently being played by the Burnham regime, to divide the masses and hold on to power. It was Dr. Rodney’s unerring conviction that by exposing it, Burnham’s tenuous hold on power would collapse around him. In a speech in Georgetown in 1976, Dr. Rodney outlined his vision thus:

“You see, we have had too much of this foolishness of race. No ordinary Afro-Guyanese, no ordinary Indo-Guyanese can today afford to be misled by the myth of race. Time and time again it has been our undoing.”
“Does it have anything to do with race that the cost of living far outstrips the increase in wages? Does it have anything to do with race that there are no goods in the shops? Does it have anything to do with race when the original lack of democracy as exemplified in the national elections is reproduced at the level of local government elections? Does it have anything to do with race when the bauxite workers cannot elect their own union leadership? Does it have anything to do with race when, day after day, whether one is Indian or African, without the appropriate party credentials, one either gets no employment, loses one’s employment, or is subject to lack of promotion?”
“It is clear that we must get beyond that red herring and recognise that it is intended to divide, that it is not intended in the interest of the common African and Indian people in this country. “It is time that we understand that those in power are still attempting to maintain us in that mentality – maintain us captive in that mentality where we are afraid to act or we act injudiciously because we believe that our racial interests are at stake.
Surely we have to transcend the racial problems. Surely we have to find ways and means of ensuring that there is racial justice in this society. But it certainly will not be done by a handful of so-called Black men monopolising the power, squeezing the life out of all sections of the working class, and turning around and expecting that they will manipulate an issue such as the Arnold Rampersaud affair and get the support of ordinary black people because we will say, ‘After all; is only an Indian. We could hang him. No sweat.’ ”
“Because, as I said before, you start with one thing, you end with another. The system doesn’t stop at racial discrimination. Because it is a system of class oppression, it only camouflages its class nature under a racial cover. And in the end, it will move against anyone, irrespective of colour. In the end, they will move even against their own. Because, don’t believe if you are a member of that party today, that you will be protected tomorrow from the injustices. Because when a monster grows, it grows out of control. It eats up even those who created the monster. And it’s time that our people understood that.”
In articulating that vision, the charismatic Dr. Rodney laid bare the hypocrisy of the Burnham Government. That vision is believed to be the reason why Dr. Rodney was assassinated and not, as Dr. Roopnarine now surprisingly alleges, the amassing of arms and ammunitions to overthrow the Government. Which begs the question: Why such a reversal from Dr. Roopnarine? Is it ambition? Is it the promise of political office? Today, the WPA is an ally of the PNC in a coalition arrangement under the name APNU, with Dr. Roopnarine, as deputy to the leader of the PNC, David Granger (a high ranking officer in the army at the time of Dr. Rodney’s death who has refused to testify before the COI), who is the chairman. Whatever his motivations, Dr. Roopnarine is seeking to tarnish the impeccable reputation of a friend whose shoestrings he is not fit to lace. Judas, it is said, at least had a crumb of self-respect to stand before his master in betrayal. Dr. Roopnarine chooses to do so after his death. Late at nights, when the shadows come, what do you hear, Dr. Roopnarine: the voice of Dr. Rodney asking, Et tu, Rupert?

DR. SHAM SAMAROO, PH.D
New York