I WENT to the Rupert Roopnaraine (RR) funeral service with two of my boyhood friends – Ronald Gordon and Leyland DeCambra – the latter being a founding member of the WPA group in the UK. Leyland insisted that I must write for the sake of history to correct the enormous distortion in Guyana’s politics by those who spoke at the event.
This column is designed to fill the huge holes that RR’s admirers created. The next day the Stabroek headline screamed that RR will be remembered as a champion of unity. On the contrary, RR, on several occasions, sabotaged sincere efforts at both racial and political unity. He was a divisive figure that contributed to the widening of the political chasm in this country.
There are four Roopnaraines wrapped up in one man. In part 5, I will highlight who Roopnaraine really was – a highly elitist Mulatto/Creole Indo-Guyanese who carried the Rupert Roopnaraine entitlement syndrome to unhealthy levels but more on this later.
The four Roopnaraines were – the RR of the 1970s, the RR of the 1980s, the RR of 21st century and RR in power. In this periodisation schema, each phase represents a distinct RR in which one period of revolutionary politics is followed by devious and conspiratorial politics.
I will not dwell on the first period, which is adequately captured in both parts 1 and 2. In this phase of RR’s politics, his contribution to anti-dictatorship politics is unquestionably sacred. After Rodney died, RR took hold of the WPA and under his leadership WPA became almost distinct from the WPA of the 1970s. Once Walter Rodney was alive, there was room for a Cheddi Jagan accommodation.
Rodney’s parents and one of his elder siblings were supporters of the PPP. Rodney then found Jagan a reliable ally. When Rodney died, the Freudian anti-Jagan instinct in RR became almost uncontrollable. Rupert didn’t like Cheddi for cultural and class reasons that will be explained in part 5.
The façade of there being co-leadership in the WPA was well entrenched in the 1980s. Every leader in the WPA deferred to RR. He didn’t run a one-man show, but he was simply mesmerising in his arguments so that not one leader, including the iconic Clive Thomas, at the end of the meeting disagreed with RR. The man was simply a phenomenal exponent of the English language.
After Walter’s assassination, RR had no time for Cheddi. RR and Cheddi had no tête-à-tête as unlike the times with Walter. The first taste of RR’s dislike for Cheddi came in 1979, months before Walter died. The WPA planned a civil insurrection against Burnham and in the monthly meetings with the PPP, according to Mr. Ralph Ramkarran, the WPA told the PPP it cannot disclose any details, but when it happened, the PPP will hear about it. This was the position of RR which he insisted the WPA adopt. Both Rodney and Thomas accepted RR’s persuasion.
RR became very conspiratorial during the talks with the Patriotic Coalition for Democracy (PCD) at the beginning of the 1990s. RR single-handedly broke up the PCD. He insisted that the interim government proposal that the PCD had taken to President Hoyte must include the PNC and Hoyte as the president. The PPP, fresh from the anger of Hoyte dissolving the PNC-PPP talks Burnham initiated in 1984, rejected the PNC’s pre-eminence in an interim government.
The nasty, ugly role that RR played in scuttling the Centre Force blueprint of Ravi Dev for the 2005 election is well documented by Dev and has been made public.
There was supposed to be a coalition of all small parties to wedge themselves between the PNC and PPP. That was more or less accepted by all the constituents, but it was RR that broke up the covenant by insisting that the Centre Force must include the PNC. Let me say upfront, Dev is a more principled human than RR, so I believe him.
Two Machiavellian schemes RR was involved that made him a devil in politics. When Jagan got into power in 1992, he offered Clive Thomas the post of Economic Affairs minister. Cheddi loved Clive. The WPA met in an emergency session to consider the offer. RR’s anti-Jagan’s rage was tsunamic. The man in his outlay does not raise his voice but the power of his analysis leaves the WPA leadership grovelling at his feet.
RR argued that Cheddi had no right to dictate for the WPA and to accept the offer was below the WPA’s dignity. The offer was rejected, killing a priceless opportunity for political co-operation.
Finally, RR told President Ramotar that Mrs Walter Rodney told him she did not want a CoI into Walter’s death. The lady publicly said that that was not true. RR didn’t want the CoI for his own devious reasons. Part 4 is coming up.
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.
