…Dr Roopnaraine
Life is full of surprises. And your jaded Eyewitness received a whale of a surprise when he discovered that Dr Rupert Roopnaraine was one of the Directors of Homestretch Development Inc (HDI) – the company seeking to make a killing on the old D’Urban Park racetracks. Dr Roopnaraine’s from the WPA, which has always held itself as a model of rectitude for their new political culture that was supposed to give Guyanese an alternative to the old, fossilized and corrupt one.
The PPP and PNC both came out of the Cold War era that made them make compromises in order to deal with the ground realities created by the US and the USSR. Maybe one can give them a “get out of jail” card on the corruption front because of that experience? Once you’ve made one Faustian bargain, it gets easier to make others – including with yourself.
But back to Dr Roopnaraine. What in the world could’ve made him get involved with what was clearly a hustle? We now know he’s a director of HDI – but was silent when the cock crowed in Parliament. Common sense would suggest he was in from the beginning – months before the company was incorporated when monies were solicited from various and sundry companies. After all, business folks are more susceptible to dig deep into their pockets when a Senior Minister of Government’s involved.
Regardless, he’s as complicit as could be for all the dirty, degrading details that’ll eke out now that “mouth open and story jump out”. Some see the WPA as irrelevant and are irritated they get so many column inches in the press. But there’s a reason for that. They once represented a “possibility” out of the morass into which our politics had sunk – and in which it’s still mired.
Dr Walter Rodney in turn represented the quintessence of that possibility. And Dr Rupert Roopnaraine shone in the penumbra of Dr Rodney’s legitimacy. No one’s ever pointed a finger at Dr Rodney, who gave up potentially lucrative foreign academic postings to make his contribution to Guyana. But so did Dr Roopnaraine. The man was a Guyana Scholar who graduated from Cambridge and went on to earn a PhD from Ivy-league Cornell – and teach there.
So did he succumb to the blandishments of the known suspects because even though he’s on his own personal homestretch, the material rewards he might’ve expected – augmented by his senior ministerial salary and perks – weren’t enough?
After all, look at the pension for Hamilton Green – the WPA’s nemesis back in the day when Dr Roopnaraine and others were mauled, jailed and killed.
All compasses – including moral ones – do move!
…Deputy REO
What is this world coming to? Imagine on the same day that Dr Roopnaraine was busted as a participant on the D’Urban Park private trifecta, came news that the Deputy REO of Region 3 – Aleena Hinds – was nabbed in Texas for smuggling cocaine. Now Ms Hinds was one of those persons with such a squeaky clean image, you’d never suspected her of becoming a “mule”.
Here’s a single parent, coming from the island of Wakenaam, who serves on the PTA of her daughter’s primary school – to ensure the kid gets the best schooling. And to no one’s surprise, the child does well – because she has a parent who cares and is involved. She then goes on to compete for the “Miss Renaissance” crown as the woman who’s done it all. Environmental Officer with the EPA, Health Officer of Region 3, and moving up to Deputy REO.
While Ms Hinds seemed to have it all, in modern Guyana, we’re proving “the more we have, the more we want.”
But then greed was there from the beginning, no?
…Mr Philanthropy
Meanwhile over in the ancient county comes the grisly story of a young US millionaire philanthropist, who’s accused by four murder-accused, of ordering a killing because he was sexually rebuffed.
In addition to greed, there’s lust.
