Dear Editor,
Dr. Roger Luncheon has long been gone from the public limelight, that which he occupied with some distinction in both the last and this century. He spanned more than centuries; Roger Luncheon, on occasion, bridged the expanse that ruptures this country in so many ways. The now departed Dr. Luncheon was a medicine man, when such was pure political poison. Many were the people who looked like him, were forced to appeal to him for relief. Years ago, a Permanent Secretary shared her story, and of Dr. Luncheon’s authoritative diagnosis and remedy. Just this week, a sister told me her story, while he was still with us, about escalation to him, and his fixer’s intervention. Matter over, move on.
Roger Luncheon was a tollgate keeper, and he kept the traffic flowing, when his bigoted, vindictive comrades rolled heads. He was also a cool political operator made differently. Give him troubling circumstances, and he came up with healing resolutions. At least it healed his party, smoothened his government’s leadership gymnastics. Maybe his torrent of sophisticated syntax, a man at home with the unsparing diction of secure people, was to heal his own wounds. Yeah, the Jolly Roger was a real pirate where words were concerned, knotted strings of them that distorted (and revealed) the ailments facing this country. As anointed gatekeeper of Freedom House’s drawbridge, it was his solemn duty to come up with what obfuscated, masticated, and complicated. Indeed, Dr. Roger Luncheon was a tower of power in leading Guyanese down the garden path, only for them to realize a considerable time after that it was no garden path, but path to hell.
Truly, Roger Luncheon the prevaricator had no equal. President Ali tries, but is more conjurer than communicator; one not taken seriously by literate people (truly lettered ones). Roger Luncheon, as a stonewaller, wallower and wallcrawler of exceptional standing in the whimsical is now challenged by Bharrat Jagdeo. Dr. Luncheon could make the eyes glaze over, and the head spin; his student, Jagdeo, is best at spinning his own head, and crashing into inglorious mental heaps. This illustrious veteran of the PPP was a man of many talents. One of them was why answer in one word, when a hundred allows crafty political maneuvers, many not on the level or the straight. Another was to hold the line, and hold rambunctious comrades in check. He had purple prose and pedigree to match. A political opponent labeled him a pitbull, my thinking is that he was more of a porcupine crossed with some crocodile.
Oh, he had tears to suit, and the hard armored scars of many tough political battles that boasted of successes in the trenches, boosted his survival. When harnessed under one roof, I come to one place only in assessing Roger Luncheon’s journey: he was the last of the now extinct breed of Guyanese political noblemen. Sorry, Sam, over there by Uncle Sam. Failing to stand leads to falling from grace. For the nobleman, Roger sat on a throne of thorns, surrounded by a court of inferior jesters. It required him to be bowman, swordsman, and cleanup man. When the dust settles, and the winds across Guyana would have sung their last mournful echo, Roger Luncheon was all of that for the PPP, and then so much more.
Now blended into his last sunset, he joins other storied comrades in the PPP galaxy, and Guyana’s political pantheon. Waiting for him are Cheddi and Boysie and Philomena, and maybe even Forbes. It is likely all would say that it was a hell of a ride. Only that in his own unmatchable, inimitable way, Dr. Roger Luncheon’s selection of words would sound something like this: I confronted high, stormy winds, and in the clash of wills, emerged triumphant. He did. In this pean to a thorough party man, and a patriotic Guyanese man, he certainly did. A man to regard is gone. Who and what do we have left?
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
