THERE was an interesting three-way conversation between three anti-government personalities – David Hinds, Tacuma Ogunseye and Audreyanna Thomas.

All the leadership of all the opposition parties should make an assessment of this discussion. It reveals that the PNC is not going to survive if it continues with David Hinds and Tacuma Ogunseye as part of APNU.

Thomas said she was improperly treated by the Timehri police station and she reached out to Azruddin Mohamed. She then went on to make the opinion that Aubrey Norton should step down as head of the PNC. What needs to be noted is that Ms. Thomas found space in the last general election with the WPA.

So, one can say this was an in-house thing between three WPA persons. Instead of trying to understand why an opposition person that has a relationship with the WPA went to Mohamed and not the PNC, Hinds and Ogunseye began to lecture Thomas on politics and the role of African Guyanese. None of it was relevant to two issues Ms. Thomas raised; that she sought the help of Mohamed and that Norton should go.

But the discussion went in a dangerous direction when Ogunseye began to lecture the woman. From here on, things became comical and Ogunseye looked like someone wearing a clown’s outfit. But even though Ogunseye appeared clownish, his tone betrayed an opposition mindset living in an age long, long gone.

Ogunseye instructed Thomas that people must understand politics, and that politics is a serious thing. To anyone listening and watching, he was telling Thomas she doesn’t know politics. But when you listen to Thomas, it was she that understood politics and Ogunseye and Hinds hadn’t even an infinitesimal clue of how Guyana has changed over the past 15 years.

Both Hinds and Ogunseye are in their seventies (Ogunseye is 75) and were part of a large movement of African cultural awareness at the beginning of the 1970s that does not feature prominently today in the lives of African Guyanese in oil-rich Guyana. Ogunseye was present at an indoor, public meeting of ASCRIA on Third Street, Alberttown in 1971 when, Audrey Chase, Indian wife of one of Guyana’s leading PPP politicians, Ashton Chase was turned away from the meeting.

This was a time when under the influence of Eusi Kwayana and the organisation, he founded, ASCRIA were influential in getting African Guyanese to adopt African names. I went to UG with several of them who had changed their Christian names. And most of the African youths in the WPA had taken African names including Ogunseye.

That generation is gone. Here is the evidence. Research all African Guyanese cricketers who have represented their country at the Under 15 and 19 levels and none, I repeat none of them have African names. Hinds and Ogunseye are living in the past. It is Thomas who understands Guyanese political directions.

Above, I noted that Ogunseye began to lecture Thomas. He told her she must understand what is going on in Guyana, that African Guyanese have to go the bruk-up route (his words). He was telling the woman that changes are not going to come unless African people “bruk up.”  What was comical about Hinds and Ogunseye?

Here is the answer. They are talking to an anti-government activist who openly told them she went to Azruddin Mohamed for assistance with a police matter and not Terrence Campbell, the head of the PNC’s group in parliament. She also told them that Norton should go. Right in front of their eyes was the evidence of the changes that the dialectics have brought to the politics of African Guyanese. But they live in the past so they could not fathom anything Thomas was saying.

But Audreyanna Thomas refused to lecture Hinds and Ogunseye. Had she done that, she would have showed Guyana that if APNU continues with voices like Hinds and Ogunseye, it cannot survive to contest the 2030 elections. We come now to the part where Thomas could have showed where Hinds and Ogunseye are graphic symbolism of the demise of the PNC and APNU.

Hinds told the woman that African Guyanese have thrown their support behind Mohamed and he is waiting to see what Mohamed is going to do for them. Right there and then, Thomas should have said: “But why they didn’t accept your sermon that you preached each day for five years.”

When Ogunseye spoke of “brukking up,” she should have asked him where his followers are that will do the brukking up. In 2030, I don’t think there will a PNC. Hinds and Ogunseye bruk it up in 2026            

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.