Eusi Kwayana Funeral Set For Buxton As Guyana Honors A Political And Cultural Giant 

News Americas Now, NY, NY, Sat. Nov. 14, 2026: Guyana will today pay final respects to veteran politician, educator, writer and cultural activist Eusi Kwayana, whose funeral will be held at the Buxton ball ground in Friendship as part of four days of public observances celebrating his life.

Kwayana, widely known as the “Sage of Buxton,” died on October 10 at the age of 101. His passing marked the loss of one of the last surviving figures from Guyana’s independence-era political generation. According to the program circulated by organizers, persons joining today’s funeral procession are expected to assemble at 10 a.m. at the northwestern corner of the junction of the Lusignan main road and the Public Road.

The procession will then move to the Buxton ball ground, where viewing begins at noon. The public observances began Thursday with tributes and personal memories at Moray House in Georgetown. On Friday, participants gathered for a Buxton walkabout beginning at Middle Walk, followed by a wake at the Cockfield residence in Friendship North.

The commemoration concludes Sunday with a “Congasaw,” described by organisers as a repast and celebration of life, at the Buxton ball ground from noon.

Born Sydney Evanson King on April 4, 1925, Kwayana became one of Guyana’s most enduring political and intellectual figures. His public life stretched from the anti-colonial struggle and the movement for self-government through independence and decades of post-independence political debate.

Kwayana helped build the early People’s Progressive Party and served as Minister of Communications and Works in the short-lived PPP government of 1953 before later becoming associated with the People’s National Congress. He subsequently became a founding figure in the Working People’s Alliance in the 1970s, alongside figures including historian and political activist Dr. Walter Rodney.

He later served in Guyana’s National Assembly and remained politically active well into old age. But Kwayana’s legacy extended far beyond party politics. He was also an educator, playwright, columnist, cultural organiser and prolific writer whose work examined race, political power, village life, labour, national identity and Guyana’s development. Among his published works were Guyana: No Guilty Race and Walter Rodney: His Last Days and Campaigns.

Kwayana was also closely associated with Buxton, where he taught, organised and became a respected community elder.

Historian Nigel Westmaas, writing in tribute to Kwayana, recalled his extensive knowledge of Guyana’s political and village history and his commitment to documenting people and communities often overlooked in the country’s historical record. Westmaas also noted the breadth of Kwayana’s work, spanning poetry, plays, newspaper commentary, political statements and parliamentary interventions, along with cooperative farming and community organising.

Kwayana’s political journey often crossed party and ethnic boundaries, but one constant remained: a commitment to public life, political accountability and the empowerment of ordinary Guyanese. The WPA, in announcing his death last month, described him as an elder, teacher, mentor and leader whose influence stretched across generations.

A legacy website, EusiKwayanaLegacy.com, was launched in October as part of a wider program of remembrance spanning Atlanta and Guyana. Today’s funeral in Buxton brings Kwayana back to the community with which his name became inseparable.

For Guyana, it marks not simply the burial of a former politician, but the passing of a witness to nearly a century of the country’s political, cultural and social transformation. See live funeral service HERE