Dear Editor,
Red Thread activist, Karen DeSouza challenged the Ministry of Home Affairs on the handling of matters pertaining to that ministry. Minister Rohee, in his response, reminded Ms DeSouza of a play in which she played the role of a judge. The King on Trial, written by Eusi Kwayana, was staged by WPA in 1984 at several open-air Walter Rodney festivals across the country. He suggested that Karen’s politics have changed much since those days. Karen correctly assured him that he was wrong—she still believes in bringing kings to trial. But she prefers to hear cases of living kings; not ones who have long died. In this regard she proposes a re-staging of The King on Trial.
Never one to give up, even when cornered, Minister Rohee tells Karen that the king, though dead, still lives. (Stabroek News, March 21, 2012). But this is precisely Karen’s point. The charges against the king in the 1980s are the very changes against the kings today. In fact the court will have to hear at least three times as many charges against the present kings. Minister Rohee just doesn’t get it or pretends not to get it. He is correct—the king lives. But he lives in the kingdom built and tenanted by the PPP.
Yours faithfully,
David Hinds