ONE of my favourite Al Pacino movies is one that wasn’t a hit. It is titled, “People I know.” The sub-plot of the story is that you think you know people but do you really know them? Does Guyana know the people it thinks it knows? Whenever I compose a column that I have a little discomfort with because of the libel vultures this country has, I would consult at least two of my lawyer-friends; sometimes three but never one.

So, on May 23, 2021, I decided to pen a column (published on May 23, 2021 titled, “At the risk of angering my wife, I say I never did and will never like Rex McKay”) on attorney, Rex McKay during the controversy of the Donald Rodney appeal case where in the lower court, Mr. McKay was the prosecutor. To refresh your memory, in June 1980, as assassin, sergeant, Gregory Smith of the army planted a bomb in a transmission set and when Rodney pressed the on-button, it exploded killing him and severely injuring his brother, Donald, who was in the car.

Not satisfied with murdering Rodney, the Burnham government did the unthinkable and morally horrendous thing – it charged Donald with possession of a bomb and other related charges. President Burnham resorted to Rex McKay as the prosecutor as he did when Mr. Burnham tried to hang PPP activist Arnold Rampersaud for the trumped-up charge of murder in 1974.

Rampersaud faced three trials and was eventually acquitted. For a description of the conduct of Mr. McKay as prosecutor in that case, see the book by that great Guyanese democrat, Jesuit priest and editor of the Catholic Standard at the time, Father Andrew Morrison. The book is titled, “Justice: The Struggle for Democracy in Guyana, 1952-1992.” I regard this as one of the best publications on contemporary Guyana.

Mr. McKay died at 95 a few days ago and right before the eyes of Guyanese, an interesting display of psychology will soon take place. There will be panegyrics by lawyers on Mr. McKay’s legal skills. Those in politics who are not lawyers and know the non-legal side to Mr. McKay will compose a different melody.

One of the youngest populations of a nation in the entire world is Guyana. Today’s generation will know nothing about the use of the service of Mr. McKay by President Forbes Burnham. Mr. McKay was a faithful servant of President Burnham who resorted to Mr. McKay to do all the court cases that served the power purpose of Mr. Burnham.

I do not think that Hamilton Green was more loyal to Mr. Burnham than McKay. McKay was a dye-in-the wool servant of the PNC and even when he had reached his nineties, still sought to help the PNC in both the no-confidence motion of 2018 and the election court battles of 2020.

Mr. McKay died as the richest lawyer Guyana produced but those assets were suspiciously accumulated. In my 55 years of political activism and 35 years of journalism, the sad complaints and the unnerving informative stories I got about Mr. McKay using his skills that ended up with him being in possession of his clients’ properties are unlimited.

I was a university freshman and would attend the Rampersaud murder trial each day. I believe human rights activism throughout Guyana by the PPP and WPA saved Rampersaud’s life because McKay, acting on instruction from Burnham, wanted Rampersaud to be hanged. Mr. McKay introduced a ton of bogus evidence, including the fiction that UG physics specialist who was a witness for the defence, Father Malcolm Rodrigues was a PPP protestor outside the court during the trial.

McKay bullied his way in court and that was responsible for his many successes. He tried it with Judge Donald Trotman in a libel writ against me by the then UG Vice-Chancellor. McKay told the court that I stole books from the public library and in front of the judge stepped into my face and called me a thief.

The judge dressed him down but everyone in court was laughing when I told the court that in 1955, as an employee at Booker’s hardware store, McKay stole a packet of bicycle tube and was convicted before the courts. The case was reported in the Graphic newspaper. So, it is print for anyone to read. I never stole anything from anyone or robbed anyone of their property.

My next encounter with McKay’s penchant for bullying judges was when Justice Winston Moore awarded UG $500,000 in cost against me after I took UG to court as a Board member of the Faculty of Social Sciences for discrimination in law student applications.

My lawyer Anil Nandlall applied for reduction of cost in front of Court of Appeal judge, Lennox Perry. As usual, McKay tried to bully his way and was quickly dispatched. More on McKay later.