WHEN I entered the wake house held at my brother’s home for the grandfather of Minister Susan Rodrigues, Johnny Mathis’ music was being played. So, I asked and was told that he requested when he was alive that the music he loved be played at his wake.
I don’t know if Rupert Roopnaraine requested which genre of music was to be played at his funeral, but there were three categories – live steel band by Camo Williams; reggae; and African drums. I don’t know if those choices were Roopnaraine’s or the organisers. One of the speakers was Mr Vic Insannaly.
He told the gathering that three days before Roopnaraine died, he visited him at his sprawling estate (my words) in Mahaica. Rupert was in bed listening to classical music. That had to be a huge irony at the funeral. When I heard those words from Insannaly, my mind went back to the interview the Kaieteur News did with President Granger hours after he was sworn in as the President of Guyana.
As the reporter entered the house, classical music by Johann Sebastian Bach was being played. President Granger, as reported, said to the interviewer: “Well, he is one of my favourite composers. I do enjoy this kind of music and it is usually played in the morning. It sets a calm tone in the home.”
Roopnaraine gave an interview with the Caribbean newspaper, “The West Indian” and stated that he and Granger had enjoyed a long friendship.
Both men, it seemed, loved classical music. What I don’t understand is why no classical music was played at Roopnaraine’s funeral if that was the genre, like Granger, that he loved. The Insannaly moment is just one more revelation of the esoteric life of Roopnaraine, a life with many dimensions that only meticulous research can bring to light. I hope this mere newspaper column is a modest contribution to a revisionist analyst of one of Guyana’s controversial and questionable politicians.
Over the weekend, I had conversations on Roopnaraine with three known Guyanese – the brother of Walter Rodney, Donald; Ruel Johnson, adviser to the One Guyana Commission; and Ohene Koama, junior son of assassinated WPA stalwart, Ohene Koama. Donald wants to know that when the WPA (please note, that Roopnaraine was the main WPA personality then) decided to merge with the PNC, if there were any conditions the WPA had made.
Donald said that there is no evidence that the WPA made any conditions, which for him, was and is completely unacceptable.
He said one of the requests the WPA should have made was for an inquest into the death of Koama. Donald asked if this is the way you treat people who laid down their lives for you.
Ohene junior asked me if I knew if the WPA requested an apology from the PNC when the merger was being made. I told him I did not know. He then suggested that the WPA’s time in government was too short to have a commission into his father’s death.
Then he was momentarily silent when I said to him that time was not a constraint. The APNU+AFC government had four commissions that I know of; land rights, Lindo Creek massacre, the Public Service and the police force. I testified at three of those commissions. I think after his silence, Ohene junior realised that Roopnaraine did not want an inquiry into his father’s assassination.
My discussion with Ruel could be seen tonight on the Freddie Kissoon Show. Ruel said that Roopnaraine had achieved all that he wanted as he got older. Ruel explained that Roopnaraine made peace with his enemy. I interrupted him and inquired at what cost. If we put that statement by Ruel under intense interrogation, the political degeneracy of Rupert Roopnaraine may not have many equals.
For me, Roopnaraine reaching out to his enemy (Ruel’s word) meaning the PNC, and his permanent exclusion of the PPP is the area in which his political nastiness may be unprecedented in post-independence Guyana.
The WPA had millions of things in common with the PPP. The WPA had nothing in common with the PNC. The Rodney Commission indicts the PNC for its involvement in Rodney’s assassination.
Why would Roopnaraine seek to merge the WPA with the PNC, and under Roopnaraine’s leadership that merger participated in three national elections – 2011, 2015 and 2020, and not seek a meaningful alliance with the PPP?
Why an alliance with your enemy and not your friend? It was Roopnaraine who had argued in 1992 for the WPA to reject a Cabinet seat for the WPA in the Cheddi Jagan Government. The PPP lost the 2015 election by less than 4,800 votes, yet Roopnaraine did not utter one word about the WPA asking the PPP to join the 2015 government. Rupert Roopnaraine was the Anti-Christ of Guyanese politics. He deserves no recognition by Guyana’s young generation.
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.
