ANYONE who lived in Guyana in 2022, 2023 and 2024, and who followed what was taking place in the country in the spheres of political economy and sociology, has to know that in comparison with 2022 and 2023, The Usual Suspects (TUS) disappeared or if they were still around, were invisible.
Who or what are TUS? These are a group of people from the Mulatto/Creole Class (MCC) whose engagement in politics crystallised into confrontation with Burnham after Burnham defected from the eugenic politics of the MCC at the beginning of 1974. I think that year was the period of the chasm between the MCC and the PNC as a party, not Burnham alone.

Space would not allow for further discussion on the political contours of the MCC from 1974, but the MCC overtly confronted Burnham in the form of the Working People’s Alliance with the MCC putting its faith more in Rupert Roopnaraine rather than Walter Rodney. Interestingly, the MCC viewed Roopnaraine as more MCC material than Rodney and indeed he was. I think more than Sir Lionel Luckhoo and John Carter, Roopnaraine was more accepted by MCC personalities in the society; the reason being, he was exceedingly more charming and persuasive than Luckhoo and Carter.
The apogee of the MCC politics was the storing of arms in the Taitt House (now known as Cara Lodge on Quamina Street) for the overthrow of Burnham. The Taitt House was the gathering ground for the crème de la crème of the MCC in the 1940s and 1950s. The Taitt family was the purest form of eugenic expression in British Guiana and even though two members of the crème de la crème – David De Caires and Miles Fitzpatrick – captured the attention of the MCC, the Taitt family was seen as white as the colonial officials in British Guiana who, in fact, were smitten by the Taitt family.

I quote the words of the quintessential MCC Leviathan, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine: “Well, I wanted an armed insurrection…we were stocking piling timers, explosives, and arms right here in the room upstairs.”
Taken from an interview at Taitt House between famous travel writer, John Gimlette and Roopnaraine from the Gimlette book, “Wild Coast: Travels on South America Untamed Edge,” Profile Books Limited, London, 2012, page 45.
Let’s move right up to the present time before space runs out. The MCC reached its political zenith in the combined politics of David Granger and Raphael Trotman which was outlined at a meeting between Granger and Trotman at the airport at Nassau, Bahamas. When APNU was formed, it was Roopnaraine who insisted on Granger’s presidential candidacy.

In 2015, the MCC came to power only to lose it in a paroxysm of wild, pompous and eugenic expression of power intoxication. The MCC lost power in 2020 and thus was born The Usual Suspects. TUS consist of a group of MCC personalities who are well placed financially and are finely educated. Some live in Guyana, others are scattered mostly in North America.

Since 2020, they have formed themselves into an implacable collective enemy of the People’s Progressive Party that they feel, as their ancestors did in the 1930s and 1940s, are non-Christian Indians that are culturally unsuited to govern the Creole societies of the post-colonial Caribbean.
Some of the faces in the TUS are well known because they are relentless in their condemnations of PPP rule. From 2020, TUS have been writing a monthly letter published in the Stabroek News only. The criticisms, chastisements and condemnations of the Guyana Government have been vitriolic, malignant and poisonous.

Here is a brief list of their letters from 2020 to 2023. They wanted President Ali to disinvite then Brazil president, Bolsonaro, because Brazil discriminates against Afro-Brazilians. They rejected the visit of then Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo because they feared for the Caribbean remaining a zone of peace. They demanded that Guyana immediately discontinue oil production because they say it damages the climate and kills African people. Yes, believe it; they said, African people. They wanted the DPP to drop the 20 murder charges against the alleged murder accused over the Mahdia dormitory fire and reduce the charge to arson.

TUS disappeared last year, penning only one letter on Haiti. What is the explanation? First, I think their political bankruptcy showed up because they were demanding things that were so absurd that Guyanese didn’t care to read them anymore. Secondly, they lost complete influence when they demanded Guyana get out of oil and gas. People saw them as being part of the lunatic fringe. Thirdly, they had no political activism among the masses thus were not seen as nationalist by the majority of Guyanese. Finally, people wanted to know why a majority of them were citizens of other countries.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.