Posted September 12th. 2008

Eusi Kwayana, formerly Sydney King, was born at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, Guyana in 1925. At age seven, his family moved to Buxton where he has lived ever since. Kwayana, who has been referred to as the 'Sage of Buxton', 'Renaissance Man', 'Guyana's Gandhi' among other titles, has been involved in public life since 1945. During that time he has become one of Guyana's most distinguished political leaders and a respected educator. Ironically, he has also been one of the most controversial and misunderstood public personalities.

Eusi Kwayana has been a man of many trades - politician, educator, writer, journalist, dramatist, folklorist, historian. He began his teaching career as a primary school teacher at age 15. In 1956 he founded and became principal of County High School, later renamed Republic Cooperative High School which was located in Buxton. Kwayana has also been most active in the cultural life of the country. He has written several plays, one of which won a national award, and was also an actor in his youth. As a member of the African Society for Cultural Relations with Independent Africa (ASCRIA), he played a major role in the revival of traditional African culture in Guyana.

But it is as a political activist that Kwayana has made his most telling contribution. He entered the political arena and was one of the main supporters of Cheddi Jagan in his successful bid for a seat in the Legislative Council. He then joined the independence movement that included Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham. Kwayana served as Assistant General Secretary of the original People's Progressive Party {PPP}, and Minister of Communication and Works in the PPP administration following the April 1953 elections. After British troops invaded Guyana and the constitution was suspended, Kwayana was among scores of PPP members placed in detention. . Kwayana was also involved in local politics. He served as a village councilor and deputy village chairman of Buxton during the 1950s.

When the PPP split in 1955, Kwayana remained with the Cheddi Jagan faction. However he left the Jagan faction in 1956 and joined Burnham's People's National Congress (PNC) in 1958. He served as General Secretary of the PNC and editor of the party's organ, the New Nation until he was expelled from the party in 1961 for publicly raising the ethnic problem. In 1961 he co-founded the African Society for Racial Equality (ASRE) primarily to raise cultural consciousness among African Guyanese. But as African fear of Indian domination grew Kwayana, as spokesperson for ASRE, proposed a joint premiership between Burnham and Jagan as a solution to the racial problem with partition of the country into three zones - African, Indian and Mixed - as a last resort. Both leaders rejected the proposal and the country descended into ethnic disturbances. ASRE was disbanded a year later, amidst fears of dividing the African-Guyanese community. But in 1964, Kwayana co-founded ASCRIA, which like ASRE was dedicated to the promotion of African pride, dignity, and culture among African-Guyanese. He served as Coordinating Elder or chief spokesperson of ASCRIA. It was during this period that he changed his name to Eusi Kwayana, which in Swahili means Black Man of Guyana.

Although he was expelled from the PNC he continued to support the party until 1971 when he broke with it over the issue government corruption. Before the break Kwayana held several influential positions in the government.--all unpaid. He was head of the National Land Settlement Committee; Chairman of the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC); Chairman of the Cooperative Insurance Committee; and Chairman of a committee charged with converting the Guyana Cooperative Credit Society into a Cooperative Bank.

Since its formation in 1974, Kwayana has been a 1eading member of the Working People's Alliance (WPA) party. He was the party's presidential candidate in 1985 and parliamentarian in the years 1986-90. He has also been the editor of the party's newspaper, Dayclean. Eusi Kwayana has the rare distinction of having written the party songs for Guyana's three leading political parties- - PPP, PNC, and WPA. A man of a simple lifestyle, Kwayana has been a vegetarian since 1946. He is married to Tchaiko and the union has borne four children, one of whom is deceased.

David Hinds lectures in Caribbean and African Diaspora Studies at Arizona State University in the USA. His writings on Politics in Guyana and the Caribbean can be found on his GuyanaCaribbeanPolitics.com website.