What did Ramphal think about local politics and Cuba?

Dear Editor,

I deeply appreciate your fearless approach to journalism in the context of the questions posed to Sir Shridath Ramphal on the launching of his memoirs. Those questions centred on his attitudes and conceptual approach to issues of domestic politics and politics within a local setting.

I am glad you were not deterred by the huge status of Sir Shridath because even seasoned journalists (Guyanese, that is) may not have wanted to go in that direction. It is manifestly clear to any scholar that the missing link in Sir Shridath’s career is that he has never mentioned even one word, much less one line on the role of freedom and democracy in the Third World. He avoids that discussion like the plague. And true to form, he displayed that penchant when the Stabroek News questioned him on the prorogation anomaly in the present constitutional sensitivity in Guyana.

Sir Shridath is in his eighties and if he didn’t offer your newspaper a comment on democracy in 2014, I doubt he ever will. For me that remains a weak point in his global career. I haven’t read his memoirs so I cannot assume that he did not reflect on the subject. But what I am extremely anxious to know is why three years ago when he retired from international duties, he chose Barbados as his permanent home and not Guyana, the country that made him what he is today.

Given his tall international standing, that should be a question for any interviewer or reporter. His answer is bound to titillate the curiosity of most people who have followed his career. But I am a betting person and I would wager anyone that like the prorogation act by the government that he declined to answer, he will do the same about his Barbados decision. It is unfortunate that we may never know the reason why he made that choice of home.

It is certainly ironic that an international statesman who has served the West Indies for over forty years has left nothing in print about his thought on politics in the West Indies, but particularly his own Guyana. If you can pick a list of six countries that are enduring tragic polities in the world over the last fifty years, Guyana would easily make that list. I wonder what Sir Shridath’s thoughts are on Guyana in the seventies when he worked under President Burnham and under President Jagdeo, that is, Guyana in the past twenty-five years. Sir Shridath as a matter of obligation to the Guyanese nation needs to explain the failure of the Herdmanston Accord.

As I observed above, I haven’t even glanced at his published memoirs so I don’t know how he treats Cuba, but I think his pro-Cuban stance in his long career may have been one of the factors that cost him the position of UN Secretary General, not that I think he deserved it. I don’t think he did at the time. I believe that the UN Secretary General should not be a diplomat but a guardian of the rights of the peoples of the world.

If there is a section on Cuba then I think it may carefully avoid any mention of the Cuban political system. I hope when I purchase the book (hope it is not too expensive) it is worth my money because I am looking forward to a discussion on Cuba. I close with a slight deviation. Up to graduation as a first-degree holder from the University of Guyana, I was a supporter of Fidel’s Cuba and Cuba’s Fidel.

But just before graduation, I attended an informal rap session that UG lecturers normally have in different lecturers’ homes on Friday evenings. In one session at the house of sociology lecturer, Yvonne Benn on David Street, Kitty, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine opened my eyes about Cuba. Dr Roopnaraine told the session that the Cuban government had taken over the country’s film institute and that was an ominous sign.

I went to Canada to do my doctorate and while there my eyes were further opened about Cuba. Cuba and Iran are major historical failures in the history of revolutionary change. I guess if bad health did not retire Fidel Castro, he would have ended up running Cuba until he died. I will see how Sir Shridath deals with Cuba in his memoirs when I go to Austin’s Bookstore. Can’t wait.

 Yours faithfully,

Frederick Kissoon