GROWING up, I always heard the saying that when you get into an advanced age, you must say and do things that symbolize respect for your age. Eusi Kwayana is 99 years but even though I am compelled by moral laws to respect him, I also believe the offering of respect hinges on the person manifesting self-respect.
Let’s go through this story step by step.  1- Prominent politician, Mr. Ralph Ramkarran accused Eusi Kwayana (AKA, Sydney King) of describing Cheddi Jagan as being racist. 2- Mr. Kwayana replied in the newspapers and challenged Mr. Ramkarran to cite evidence. 3- I did a column (Guyana Chronicle, Wednesday,

January 29, 2025, “The perennial deviousness in the Freudian mind of Eusi Kwayana”) asking Mr. Kwayana why in his denial in his response to Mr. Ramkarran, he simply did not state if he thought of Dr. Jagan was a racist or not.
4- Mr. Ramkarran replied and held his ground and addressed Kwayana in the following manner–why don’t you state your position on Jagan. 5 – Last Monday, Kwayana replied to Ramkarran and declined to offer his analysis or description or judgement on Dr, Jagan. But it is the way Kwayana put it in his letter on Monday that causes[one] to think that Kwayana will never do it.

Below, I quote from Mr. Kwayana’s Monday missive which demonstrates to the entire world that Mr. Kwayana’s politics, scholarship and reasoning have certainly degenerated beyond redemption. This is a tragic descent of someone that was so long admired by this nation and outside of Guyana. Please read the quote below carefully because the degeneration is graphic.

Dr. Jagan’s praxis has always been a matter of compelling interest for me, and it is likely that there may be some development that drives me before my time on the planet ends to attempt a summing up of all the responses I have had to Dr. Jagan’s remarkable interventions. However, with a general election pending and the work consequent on the 2020 general election still unfinished it is unlikely that I would raise or introduce at this time contentious arguments concerning the praxis of one whose name and memory are still capable of being exploited by media available to what President Irfaan Ali has called special interests.

Two reasons are offered by Mr. Kwayana, and I unapologetically say that there are pathetically asinine. The first is Guyana has a general election coming up. What the hell is the connection between Kwayana at 99 giving his evaluation of one of the great figures of the 20th century who died 27 years ago with the coming election in November?

I admit for all my academic training, I am incapable of intellectually discerning the connection. The fact is, there is none. In what ways can a portrait of Jagan by Kwayana impact on the 2025 election? How is this possible and in what aspects of the election, Mr. Kwayana’s analysis will be seen and felt?
Is Mr. Kwayana telling us that in his assessment of the long career of Dr. Jagan if his analysis is positive it will help the PPP in the election or if his judgement of Jagan is negative, it could weaken the PPP in the forthcoming poll? This thing is so silly that it deserves a strong adjective – stupid. Mr. Kwayana may have written that nonsense in jest, but it is certainly not funny.

The second reason Mr. Kwayana cited is “the work consequent on the 2020 general election is still unfinished.”  What does Mr. Kwayana means by those words? He is referring to the election court cases. But what those legal matters have to do with Kwayana’s analysis of the role of Dr. Jagan from 1940 to 1992 when Jagan became president?

There is only one explanation for this bizarre direction of Kwayana – he is simply being funny. But in being funny, Mr. Kwayana has the people of Guyana deriding and insulting him which he deserves. In what way a published analysis of the long praxis of Dr. Jagan by a man 99 years of age who knew Jagan very closely could affect those court cases? I really did not know I was so poor intellectually, but I cannot muster one ounce of comprehension to fathom the logic of Eusi Kwayana in his Monday letter.

I appeal to someone with a more analytical mind to send me an email and explain to me what Kwayana is really saying. I close by asking the question: In what ways Mr. Kwayana’s views on Cheddi Jagan could affect how people vote and how the court will rule on the election matters before it?
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.