Latest update April 20th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 31, 2013 Letters
Dear Editor,
Your news item, “Kissoon details why he called former President “ideological racist” (26-01-13) is revealing. Is Mr. Kissoon’s ‘investigative research material’ which has been presented to the court available for sale, or for public scrutiny? The ‘research material’ sounds sumptuously palatable – like a huge, fresh, good-sized piece of juicy sugar cane from which you could keep on sucking for a long time.
The KN article stated that Mr. Kissoon “revealed that there were two major ethnic communities in Guyana, distinct in spheres and existence” – Indian and African; (brilliant revelation and observation, Fred – thanks for enlightening Guyanese on this little known piece of info), and that Africans “maintained an existence with administration of the state, including state activities, education, the Arts and related activities”, whereas Indians got their power from “physical possessions and wealth”, and that both communities were “content with their sphere of influence”, according to a “Plural Model”.
KN also reported (29-01-13) that Mr. Kissoon reiterated that the model “was used to describe a satisfied Guyanese society and the co-habitation of the citizens”, and that “changes were being made to the public sector, destroying that model which he described”, with the advent of the PPP returning to power in 1992. Is that pronouncement of a “satisfied Guyanese society and co-habitation of citizens” prior to 1992 supposed to be a not-so-subtle shenanigan by the respected political commentator?
Has Mr. Kissoon forgotten what the public sector employment looked like in 1992? To jog his memory, virtually all employees were from a particular ethnic background; the hue stood out like a sore thumb. Any conscientious national leader would know that there ought to be not mere token changes in public sector; there needed to be a total overhaul so that square pegs would not be plugged in round holes, and thereby establish a system that is fair and equitable for all Guyanese.
Was Nelson Mandela an “ideological racist” when he attempted to make the public sector employment reflect the ethnic makeup of South Africa after the ANC got into power – which rushed changes at relative lightning speed!
The KN reported, “Kissoon said that it was clear that, “98 percent possession of land, commerce, financial houses, the import and export trade and in general, wealth,” belonged to Indo-Guyanese. How did Mr. Kissoon concoct that “clear” conclusion? The only thing “clear” about Mr. Kissoon’s preposterous statement is that that was the mere opinion of the researcher; it is subjective – not objective, and should therefore be deemed untenable.
Did Mr. Kissoon present any empirical evidence to back up that ‘98%’ statistic? It reminds me of Mr. Kissoon’s stupendous statement in March 2010 when the author in question stated of the commercial landscape in Georgetown, “almost 99.99 percent” are owned by East Indians; in other words, out of 10,000 businesses or so, about 9,999 are owned by East Indians!
Mr. Kissoon gave statistics on how many Afro-Guyanese were replaced by Indo-Guyanese in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, GPHC, GRA, etc. Were there any Indo-Guyanese replaced by Afro-Guyanese in similar positions? Are we given the true picture of the ethnic story being brandished by Mr. Kissoon’s (mis)use of statistical numbers?
It is vital to remind oneself of the composition of the ethnic makeup to which Mr. Kissoon refers. Indians in Guyana consist of about 43% of the population, whereas Africans make up about 30%. If the personnel in a given department hired are slightly in favour of Indians, does that reflect racism – in view of their larger number of Indians present in the country?
So, if there are 100 jobs available, and Indians happened to secure 43 of those positions, and Africans 30, would it be a case of racial discrimination? Considering all things ‘equal’, the question behooves the statistician – is there a significant difference between those ethnic peoples who are hired for a given position?
Mr. Kissoon’s other “strong” argument for branding Mr. Jagdeo a racist was that “no Indo Guyanese was ever prosecuted when fraud was discovered in the government departments”. Was there ever prosecution of other ethnic Guyanese who were guilty of fraud or colossal wrongdoing?
An “ideological racist” is one who routinely subscribes to the idea that one’s race is superior to that of other ethnic peoples, and systemically promotes policies that discriminate against others because of ethnic makeup.
We look forward to hearing more of Mr. Kissoon’s defence in the use of this title – and sympathize with researcher for having his super (“Plural”) model disintegrated with the advent of the 1992 change.
Devanand Bhagwan
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
Apr 20, 2024
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