Aubrey Norton is from the old school. While Hoyte had called him his “creature”, that wasn’t strictly true. He’s actually a creature of the PNC…having pretty much grown up in that organisation. Even though he’s on the out with those who’ve taken control of the party, he’s still a “PNC” man through and through. And one thing he learnt from Burnham was that no matter how far-fetched it sounds, the PNC should never concede that it’s an all-African party.

And the corollary to that line is that the party should always avoid painting all Indians with the same nasty brush they daubed the PPP with. That’ll blow their pretensions as a “national party” that could also represent Indians. To act otherwise would be to concede all Indians to the PPP.

So when the AFC brigade, led by Nigel Hughes and his trusty native informant Kissoon, led the charge in court that the PPP was enriching and favouring only Indians,    Norton and other PNC loyalists must’ve been in a dilemma. After all, if 98 per cent of the wealth of Guyana was in Indian hands due to PPP’s manoeuvres – as claimed by the AFC types – why would Indians vote for any other party.

The AFC certainly knew that statistic was a blatant figment of Kissoon’s self-hating mind – how else could’ve they gotten their five seats from Berbice? But they’d caught a tiger by its tail. We’ll see what that tiger will do to their votes at the next elections. 98 per cent of the wealth indeed!!!

Anyhow, Norton’s now decided to launch damage control for the PNC. Let the AFC take their foot from their own mouth. He claims in a letter to the press that contrary to what the AFC claimed in court, the PPP has been enriching both Indians and Africans. An elite, he says. Of course, he denounced these Africans as Uncle Toms as his “youth group” had done after the last elections.

Well, we know Norton had to put the PNC’s spin on things, but what he described is inevitable in the development of any poverty-stricken country. Since business is the “engine of growth”, the business class will obviously benefit more than others in the early days – no matter who’s in government. As the PNC should have learnt from their turn at the helm, you have to create wealth before you can redistribute it.

In the meantime, the opposition shouldn’t cut social programmes – they’re meant to help the poor as the tide lifts their boats.

Burnham’s rehabilitation

If it’s one thing the Africans in the ANC knew was that not because someone had a black face meant that they had pure hearts. They’d experienced betrayals of thousands by those who looked like them but were willing to sell them down the river for their 30 pieces of silver. In their long struggle to be treated as equals inside their own country, they’d learnt the hard way not to trust everyone who cried, Uhuru! Uhuru!!

So when they decided to honour Burnham with the Oliver Tambo Award years after they had done the same for Dr Cheddi Jagan posthumously, they had to have very good reasons. After all, Burnham had very early in the day had Guyana contribute to a South Africa Freedom Fund when finances here weren’t exactly abundant.

They probably remembered that Burnham’s help was as much motivated at rehabilitating his image as helping the ANC. They’d remember Burnham’s role in the assassination of Walter Rodney, a foundational Pan-Africanist. The WPA’s present coalition with the PNC probably helped in Burnham’s present rehabilitation.

Ruel’s ruing

Poor Ruel Johnson, the AFC’s erstwhile “cultural adviser”. He just threw a hissy-fit at Nagamootoo because the AFC didn’t slash the culture budget. Why? Well, poor Ruel still hasn’t gotten a squeeze and has to continue scrounging at Walker’s cake shop.