While the local television news was being read during last week, my attention was attracted to the announcement by the interviewee at a press conference to pay attention to the ‘algebraic’ equation about to be announced. The journalists were cautioned that they might not understand if they did not listen carefully. I listened and was baffled.
A few days after I was engaged in a court trial in which Messrs Khemraj Ramjattan and Nigel Hughes were on the opposite side. Moses Nagamootoo, while waiting his matter in another Court, came in to listen to the proceedings, as lawyers often do. During a pause I asked if they understood the ‘algebraic’ equation. They were all in deep bafflement.
This equation reminded me of the last ‘algebraic’ equation that I learnt in high school which ended in 0. I looked up old mathematics textbooks to see if the Quadratic Equation could help me in deciphering the ‘algebraic’ equation. It is now incomprehensible. I realized that I would get no help there.
My mind then went to the two greatest scientific geniuses of the modern age, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. I believed their methodologies might give me some help. For the layperson, Newton’s law of gravity is simple enough. It means that physical bodies attract each other in proportion to their mass. The equation by which he explains his theory is complicated but at least we know what it means. Einstein’s famous equation is far simpler and thus better known. It is E = mc2. It means energy = mass x speed of light squared. It has something to do with nuclear energy. The anecdotes suggest that these geniuses made at least some discoveries from observed phenomena – Newton from an apple falling from a tree and Einstein from a fast moving train. I tried to think of what possible observable phenomena might have triggered the astonishing discovery of the ‘algebraic’ equation.
Bearing in mind the profession of the inventor of the ‘algebraic’ equation, I began to consider political developments in Guyana. I found a treasure trove. I discovered that by being able to form the government after the elections with 43 percent of the vote, the PPP/C actually won the elections. Having won the elections, they are entitled to the support of the Opposition for any bill or motion and the Opposition is not entitled to present any bill or motion, much less get support for it.
One interesting observable phenomenon is that I said in a recent article that at the upcoming Congress of the PPP, the reduction of the PPP/C’s vote at the last elections would be attributed to the PPP’s weak organization on the ground. But the inventor said that I was wrong and that I am trying to influence the Congress because the reduction in the PPP/C’s vote was due to the weak organization on the ground. In relation to the Congress I also said that there would be unanimous support for the line of the leadership as announced in the Central Committee Report. The inventor suggested that my strategy would fail because there would be unity at the Congress.
The inventor did not repeat that the PPP lost the elections because of rigging. The allegation is no longer an observable phenomenon. The new one is that the PPP lost votes because of lack of work on the ground. But the inventor said that these problems have all been addressed and solved. The inventor therefore expects to observe the phenomenon that the PPP/C will roar past the 50 percent mark at the next elections, just like in the film, The Mouse That Roared, in which the Duchy of Grand Fenwick declared war on the US expecting to lose but roared to victory instead. The comic genius, Peter Sellers, acted in the film.
I contemplated for a long while and finally I got the ‘eureka’ moment.
The inventor is a formidable and multi talented inventor who multi tasks all the time. He approves leave for individual senior police officers, has to track down all those criminals who brutally gunned down two persons in the course of robbery on the very day that he was announcing the ‘algebraic’ equation, issue passports, gun licences, track non-existent TIP victims and perhaps plot to deploy an ‘algebraic’ equation against the US in the upcoming war over the TIP issue which we hope to lose, but might win.
The inventor, being discombobulated and disoriented by his prodigious multi tasking, mistakenly announced his invention as ‘algebraic’ when it is in fact a ‘chemical’ formula. He discovered that the combination of the elements, SN, KN, MN, RR and KR, would be so powerful that it would lead to an enormous explosion and demolish to zero, in his mind, everything in its path, including the PPP. This is what he was warning against because it is his worst nightmare.
My fortuitous discovery of the meaning of the formula is due to my good fortune which I can only attribute to the fact that ‘goat nah bite me.’
As someone who rarely smiles these days, I find myself rolling with laughter before I finished reading Ralph Ramkarran’s insightful article.
That inventor in question truly put Mr Ramkarran through some brainstorming.
I know that the inventor is an autodidact who taught himself a few useful things.
In this particular instance of the not-so-arcane formula SN+KN+RR+MN+KR=0, however, the inventor is no more than a copycat.
Recall that more than five decades ago the Trinidadian genius Dr Eric Williams pulled his island out of the West Indian Federation with a bold explanation: “one from ten equals zero.” Dr Williams was referring to Jamaica’s earlier withdrawal from the 10-member federation.
Our local inventor is an ardent reader who likes to lift ideas from various publications and parrot them in a seemingly original way. He believes he has the freedom to do so because goat nah bite he. Good for him!
Ralph, the way the new cabal works, at this next congress they will cremate the works u have previously done in and for the PPP and try to show that they have solidified the party support for Donald and the other ducklings, the bad, the ugly and the indifferent. By doing so, they will proclaim the wish of the guyanese masses who they will fool people to think are behind these decisions. Read the writing on the wall. There will be no quarters granted and given to Ralph , Moses or Rajattan. It will be the new order and these vagabonds will cheer themselve with pats on the backs of the ‘faithful'[anyone who does not question the status quo] and with several toasts fron 5 year old they will chant of the fighting men, whose only claim to fame will be the disingenious ways they have invented to hide their corruption
H.E RALPH,FYG- QUADRATIC EQUATIONS ARE
HIGH FOR THOSE GUYS,WHO ARE NOW ACCUSTOMED TO PROPAGATE SIMULTANEOUS EQUATIONS IN THE HOUSE,
TELL YR PRESIDENT THAT IN 14 YRS AS GS OF
PPP,HE MISERABLY & COMPLETELY FAILED TO
OBTAIN A MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE,BUT DR. CBJ OBTIANED ABT 56 % AFTER 28 YRS.ITS FOR THE PEOPLE TO COMPARE & CONTRAST AT THE NEXT CONGRESS,PLS REMIND HIM ALSO THAT DR CBJ NEVER APPOINTED SAM HINDS AS A PERMANENT PRIME MINISTER OF GUYANA- IT MEANS CLEARLY THAT” GOAT BITE ALL @ FREEDOM HOUSE,INCLUDING THE
NITINGALE, GALE TEX(THE RIGHT FUL PM TO REP THE CIVIC COMPONENT).
IS SAM HINDS STILL A CIVIC PM OR PRO PPP?
PORT MOURANT CONGRESS CANNOT CHANGE THE COURSE OF THE DOWN FALL OF
THE PPP-PARTY.THE ONLY WAY IS THE “SRC”
SIX RACE CONGRESS–GUYANA- THUS STATISTICS N FACTS ARE BETTER THAN EQUATIONS.
CHEDDI JAGAN the Legend)
Born in Port Mourant on a sugar plantation
He daily witnessed Guyana’s exploitation
He saw hardship and knew there was only one cure
And Cheddi promised to fight oppression for sure
He fought against the plantation owners
Championing the cause of the sugar-workers
The Gov’t. of the day could not understand
For he was a force, a tiger in their hand
In those days Imperialism was in
And Social Social/Marxism was a sin
You bow to Uncle Sam and dance to his tune
Or you’d pass away like the last full moon
The people came last and politics came first
But this jingoism didn’t quench his thirst
He stood up and was counted though he was alone
In Moscow, his friends had problems of their own
Guyanese celebrated raising the Indian jhanda
As he watched, admired and even visited India
When in 1947 India became independent
To Nehru and Gandhi good wishes he sent
Then later Ghana got independence too
And all Guyanese dressed in every hue
Joined with their brothers of Ghana
And celebrated with Kwame Nkrumah
This did not deter him, he stuck to his belief
And was forced to be the opposition to a thief
As bullets replaced ballots in every succession
As Guyana was repeatedly raped in every election
All his pleas fell on deaf ears
Especially to the political seers
He went to the United Nation and lamented
But the US backed body was undaunted
The British changed first past the post
To prevent the PPP from getting the most
They did this with the sole devious intention
By switching to proportional representation
The result was no party got a majority
The British way of getting rid of the PPP
Burnham and D’Aguiar formed a coalition
Making way for Burnham’s Guyanization
The registration by the Shoup Company
Made utter sheer mockery of democracy
Padded with the dead, hanged, even the fictitious
Which the same British press called ridiculous
In England the press had a field day
When Granada TV did their expose`
Airing Trails of the Vanishing Voter
And The Making of a Prime Minister
The whole West knew of that widespread scam
But they prefer to put their money on Burnham
The Indians overseas were denied their right
The wholesale rigging was too much to fight
Rubber bands played a big roll in elections
They were used in the PNC stronghold sections
To wrap bundles of votes i.e. the PNC’s share
And ballot boxes were tampered without fear
Desmond Hoyt, the architect on the commission
He became President with Burnham’s extinction
Since 1992 there was never a fair and free election
Only fear, fraud, disgust and wholesale corruption
That was the foundation of the PNC Govt’s abuse
What do you expect such garbage would produce?
For 28 years they ruled with an iron fist
And did every bloody thing wrong on the list
Cheddi Jagan did all he humanly could
But it was if he was preaching to wood
They rebuked him and after 28 years
The good doctor still showed he cares
Like the others who crossed the floor in stealth
He could have partook in the country’s wealth
Call it quits and then left like the others
But he stuck to his guns and his brothers
But behind every great man
There is always a good woman
And we can’t and should never forget
His strong and faithful wife Janet
Like Nehru and Gandhi of India
He also had big dreams for Guyana
But his reign was aborted by a conspiracy of silence
Though like Rev. King he too preached non-violence
To clean up the corruption and debt is a huge task
To do it overnight in a few years we can never ask
Wholesale nepotism and corruption PNC made
To wipe off the stench it would take a decade
But there is a cool new breeze blowing
With many changes for better forthcoming
The winds of change are here at last
But we should never forget the past
We have to put our shoulders to the wheel
We have to work like one people with one keel
Let no divide and rule come between us again
Strive for real independence, let sanity reign
Jagan never succumbed or relent
Even with his life almost spent
He fought his foes with his bare hands
And never groveled to their demands
He’s no ordinary man, he dreamt in his own way
Like the Rev.Martin Luther King, he hoped one day
The people of Guyana would rise up peacefully
Become one people, one nation, with one destiny.
1 This poem was written in 1990 and was autographed by Dr. Cheddi Jagan on the January 19, 1992. Autographed copies are available upon request via my e-mail. It will be published in my next book called “Drink from My Calabash.”
THIS POEM HAS REFRESHED OUR MEMORIES
DURING OUR DAYS OF STRUGGLE OF THE
YESTER YEARS, WONDER IF THE FORTHCOMING PPP CONGRESS,WILL CONSIDER THE SUGGESTIONS OF THE EXPERIENCED POLITICAL STALWART N MESSENGER- WL BE LOOKING FORWARD FOR
THE AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF SAID POEM
RGDS/BB