Wish me luck this morning in court

Aug 08, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

If you are reading this newspaper before 9 AM, then wish me luck for I am in the witness box this morning to give evidence in the assault on me for which Kwame McKoy, Jason Abdulla and Shawn Hinds have been charged. It will be an interesting drama. The defence asked that the case not be tried in front of Magistrate Judy Latchman because of the trenchant criticisms of the magistrate in my columns.
The magistrate overruled that decision and she will try the case. I am not going to comment on the court matter at all because it is sub judice. The media is not allowed to report on any dimension of a court case other than what publicly transpired during the trial. There are two things in life that I do not like. They depress me. They drive angst in me. They remind me of the essential characteristic of life, that is, we do not know what is beyond the next moment in our lives. They remind me of the fragility of everything in nature and life.
Those two things are the court and the hospital. When I see people in court I always wonder about justice. For me, justice in Guyana is essentially a privilege denied to most people who are not wealthy. Justice is a rare gift which only a few Guyanese are entitled to. I read two days ago in which a Linden vendor was sentenced to three years by the same Magistrate for possession of 12 grams of ganja. He was unrepresented. Out of ignorance he pleaded guilty. If I had known, I would have sought a lawyer for him. If it was a citizen with money, he would not have gone to court without a lawyer.
The court system depresses me. These three men were charged in February. Today is when the case starts – about seven months after. I don’t even know if the trial will begin today. A police prosecutor who is not a trained attorney comes up against three lawyers for the accused. The DPP has not assigned a lawyer to look after the interest of the State. I am not going to comment on the case as stated above but this trial reminds me of the madness of politics and Guyana itself.
I was one of the earliest persons in this country that rejected the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry. I did so for three reasons. The timing was suspect. Why 22 years into its reign the PPP chose to have the commission. Secondly, the insistence of the wife of Walter Rodney that Walter’s party, the WPA, not be allowed to participate in the planning of the inquiry. Thirdly, the terms of reference were ugly and foul. The terms of reference were designed to degrade the murder of Rodney for cheap political capital. And so it did. This is what I mean by the insanity of politics in Guyana.
I was an unrelenting activist against the Burnham Government. In 1975, as a UG student-activist, I got thrown out of a moving bus at the junction of Lamaha Street and Vlissengen Road after leaving the campus during a controversial student election. In 2010, that is 35 years after the first assault, I almost lost my life, in an attack for which the three men named above have been charged. It reminds me so vividly of the horror of politics in this country.
There is also the terror of politics. One of the men was part of Bharrat Jagdeo’s entourage as he toured the Stabroek Market Square during the eviction of the vendors in May. Jagdeo didn’t even have the decency to tell his man that though he has not been found guilty, it was protocol for him not to be seen in political tours of the Opposition Leader. I repeat for the third time in this article; I am not going to comment on the case but there is nothing in contravention of law to prevent me from saying that I believe that the May 2010 attack on my life was a conspiracy of the then Government of Guyana, headed at the time by Bharrat Jageo and the People’s Progressive Party, headed at the time by Donald Ramotar.
I am not a believer in supernatural phenomena. I am not a believer in the process whereby fate in the end punishes people and justice is delivered. There were two attempts on my life during the reign of the PPP. And my UG contract was terminated, plus what happened to my wife in her public sector job at GOINVEST. I hope one day fate makes Jagdeo and Ramotar pay for these things.