MOSES Bhagwan, a Guyanese overflowing with rich, political experience, will publish his autobiography in May. Moses is someone I had immense respect for. That admiration lasted until April 2020, when, after his correspondence with me (he lives in New York), I parted mental company with him over his refusal to condemn the attempts to derail the results of the 2020 general election.

Moses was the quintessential working-class element in the WPA leadership from 1976, when it was born, until he left Guyana in the early 21st Century. He and Rupert Roopnaraine were the two diametrical opposites in the WPA. One, a simple, modest man without middle class characteristics, as against Roopnaraine, the conspicuous Mulattto/Creole personality that wore his Indo-Saxon saturation on his shirt sleeve.

I was closer to Moses than all the leaders of the WPA. He was the person all the second and third-tier young people in the WPA were more comfortable with, even more than Kwayana, who had his peculiar snobbish ways. Moses had none. His memoir has to be exciting and stimulating, because of the 70 years he has had in Guyana’s politics. Sadly, I don’t think the book will be an all-encompassing one; it will not be a holistic work. Remember this column when the book is out, and then judge me as an analyst.

I may be wrong, but I am 100 per cent certain Moses will leave out an ocean of episodes, events, incidents, upheavals, esoteric moments and disturbing occurrences from the time the WPA was born until he left the WPA to migrate. Two reasons explain this. First, the book is the work of Alissa Trotz and Nigel Westmaas. They have compiled it and edited it, and were responsible for Ian Randle publishing it.

These are two of the most unapologetic custodians of the Mulatto/Creole culture, and two of the most dyed-in- the-wool devotees of the WPA; not the WPA in the 20th Century, not the WPA then and now, but simply the WPA, period!

Westmaas **and Trotz will not allow even a paragraph of criticism of Rupert Roopnaraine and the WPA. Trotz and Westmaas are not going to let even a line of criticism of the failure of the WPA in the book to be passed. The second reason why the memoir will be disappointing is because of the eerie, ghoulish, inexplicable mind of Moses that sees the WPA as a faultless organism. Sadly, Bhagwan is a staunch believer in the current politics of the defunct WPA, and a devotee to the politics of Roopnaraine and Kwayana.

I think all of those people who are waiting for the deep thoughts of Moses on a river of things, from the birth of the WPA in 1974 to the 2020 general election will endure painful moments of piercing chagrin. I had been corresponding with Moses since he left Guyana 25 years ago, and in those emails, I saw where his mind went.

The curiosity is whether the book will be as boring as the autobiography of Clement Rohee. When Rohee wrote his own, I don’t believe there was a Guyanese who didn’t want to read it. Rohee was one of the most experienced politicians in the Caribbean when he published his memoir. From an 18-year-old Metropole Cinema limer in 1969, Rohee rose to become the PPP leader.

All the major, sensitive, ethereal and bizarre moments in Guyanese politics for over four decades Rohee had exposure to. But in his autobiography, not even half a page is devoted to the endless things that Rohee was witness to. I would say that as an autobiography, it failed to capture one’s imagination even at 10 per cent. I have a funny feeling that though Moses’ publication will be intriguing, the omissions of the crucial dimensions of Guyana’s political life will not be there.

I am writing this column on the same day (Sunday) that Ravi Dev has published his unflattering column in Guyana Times on Rupert Roopnaraine. Dev, in that article, cited a whole-page advertisement Moses took out in the Stabroek News accusing Dev’s party of being Indian tribalists. Now, if Moses can call Dev an Indian tribalist, one wonders how he feels about Tacuma Ogunseye and David Hinds.

But here is where the degeneration of Moses’ politics occurred. I don’t believe he is critical of the politics of Ogunseye and Hinds, but let us say he pushed in a paragraph; Trotz and Westmaas will take it out. Moses is 91, and I heard my old folks in Wortmanville saying that at such an age, you must make peace with your Maker. I hope Moses does so by cleansing his soul.

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.