Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Sep 30, 2009 News
…Chairman cites uncooperative attitude of complainants
The Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) has ended the investigations into the complaints made by Information Liaison to the President, Kwame McCoy, and columnist, Freddie Kissoon as it relates to the issue of Monkey Mountain and the two individuals.
At a press conference held yesterday, Chairman of the ERC, Bishop Juan Edghill, told the media that the commission decided to end the investigations, since both McCoy and Kissoon refused to cooperate with the investigators from the ERC.
“It is important to note that both gentlemen who are public figures before even the complaints got to the ERC were in the public domain. But to date, neither of the two of them could respond to the request of our investigators to follow through with the process of signing the complaint forms, giving the follow up, making themselves available to have an interview with our investigators,” Bishop Edghill said.
He explained that the investigators contacted Kissoon via telephone and he informed them that he has no interest in following up with the complaint he made, if McCoy is not going through with his complaint.
As it relates to McCoy, the ERC Chairman said that contact was made with him, ‘but he apparently has difficulty in finding the address of the ERC.’
“I rebuke both Mr. McCoy and Mr. Kissoon with the strongest words…The ERC is nobody’s football that you can use it for your own sensationalizing or for your own political mileage.
“As chairman of the ERC, I will make it very clear… we will not pick up anybody’s fire rage; we will not allow the ERC to be used to fight anybody’s personal agenda.”
Edghill added that the ERC is a responsible constitutional commission and both McCoy and Kissoon must be aware that unless they are prepared to follow the complaints procedure, the ERC will not continue investigations in the matter.
“Because it appears as if it was never meant to be a serious matter of investigation (and) was just meant for the purpose of sensationalization.”
A few months ago, Kissoon in one of his daily columns in this newspaper stated “Burnham would never have tolerated a Kwame McCoy as his spokesperson. Burnham would have consigned Mr. McCoy to a platoon in the National Service on Monkey Mountain.”
However, McCoy took offence to this, as he noted that Kissoon called him a ‘monkey.’
He then made a formal complaint to the ERC via letter against Kissoon. This was not the end of the issue, as Kissoon then sought to also make a formal complaint against McCoy of the practice of racism against the Amerindian people.
Kissoon had stated then that McCoy had associated the Amerindian settlement of Monkey Mountain with monkeys.
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