Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 21, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
I have asked a few lawyers to check this column, because in this country people file libel writs for fun. Do you know a man has sued this newspaper for libel and this very man was charged by the American Government and jailed for visa fraud? This very man was charged for attempted murder after the victim took seven bullets and survived to tell the police his story. And there are more questionable things about this man. Yet such a personality sued for libel.
You would think with that criminal past this man would be the last to sue anyone for libel. All you have to do is say that such and such a person doesn’t know the rules of cricket and bang, a court official holding a libel writ is at your gate.
No sooner had Kaieteur News released the tape of Anil Nandlall threatening violence against the newspaper, than Nandlall sued for libel. You would have thought that Nandlall would have been obsessed with trying to plan his damage control strategy, but instead he sued for damage of character. When that case comes up, the Kaieteur News will no doubt summon three of Nandlall’s PPP colleagues who spoke to the press identifying Nandlall as the speaker on the tape.
People sue for absolute nonsense in this country and our outdated libel laws facilitate them in their foolishness. A lawyer told me about the libel laws in Trinidad. She said that before trial begins a judge can look at the plaintiff’s writ and decide if there is a case to go to trial. I wish we had that system in Guyana.
I simply wrote that a certain doctor should not be in the administrative position he currently holds at the Georgetown Hospital. That was all I wrote. I didn’t say he stole, he lied, he is a bogus doctor, etc. The man demanded an apology. Surely even by implication, there is nothing in those words to cast aspersions on the man’s character. If you say such and such a person should not hold that position they have, you mean to tell me you have damaged their character?
If the United States had the primitive libel laws this hell-hole of a country has, then Donald Trump would have sued a majority of the American population. I am sure many commentators are saying at this moment that Donald Trump is totally unfit to be President of the US.
I don’t expect the ancient libel laws to change in this country. As you would know from my daily offering on this page, I don’t expect this country to change for the better. So I was very careful in penning this column. This article stems from a letter I read in yesterday’s KN. Because of the libel laws, I am going to refrain from naming the former wife of this well-known attorney or even the name of the lawyer himself. I believe if I name the former wife and not him, the lawyer will still sue. If I identify him, he will surely sue. So at the end of the day, no identities will be mentioned and of course I am very, very unhappy with that. But I don’t have time to waste in the court over exasperating frivolities.
There are two tragic parts of that letter that tell of the profound barrenness and bareness of this destructive country. First, despite court judgements, she is not receiving her maintenance allowances. For reason of journalistic and professional proprieties, some of the attached documents that accompanied the letter could not have been published such as bank statements to show the many months, payments were not made. The second sad aspect is that litigation in one case against her former husband took 35 years to be completed. Imagine that! That is nihilism. That happened in a land that time and civilization forgot. This crying 88-year-old woman also said that another writ she filed for division of property never saw the light of day.
It is unbearable to see what the passage of time does to the fate of people. I remember I was pretty young when I read that this very former wife when she was in her younger times challenged the African-rights and cultural organization ASCRIA by walking into its head office. She was ordered out because she was not African-Guyanese. Immediately, ASCRIA’s head, Eusi Kwayana apologized to her. I hope I could have done more than just writing a column. I hope this country can help this lady in her quest to find peace of mind at age 88.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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