Where is Freddie Kissoon? Why the Silence?

Jan 23, 2023 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – Almost ten years ago, Freddie Kissoon was hoping that “One day the PNC will wake up and say enough is enough and recover its teeth.” He emphatically stated then that “Let’s hope it is tomorrow.”  In order to provoke this awakening, Freddie invoked three incidents, but since my case will be established with two, I will so recall for readers.

First, back in December 2013, he wrote his piece, “One day the PNC will say enough is enough,” and in it, he advocated a violent confrontation of the then People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government. I recall how he did it, and readers can access this article if they so desire. What he did was to cite the November 2013 protests in Thailand, where there was an invasion of a number of Ministries and their taking over. The Government then resorted to security laws, but the next day, the protestors invaded the army headquarters. This incident can be accessed at https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/thai-protesters-rally-at-more-ministries-in-push-to-topple-government.

Freddie then reminded readers that in the said, November 2013, protestors for the third day went out in their numbers, reminding the world of the Orange Revolution in the early nineties that brought down the Government. What was their motive? The Ukrainian Government had backed off signing a trade agreement with the EU. (Read for yourselves-https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe)

What an agitated Freddie explained at that time was that “In Guyana, under Former President Bharrat Jagdeo, some of the worst abuse of state power the Caricom region had seen since Independence went on for more than ten years, and only one expression of anger occurred. That, he explained, ended tragically, as three persons were shot dead. And even that tragedy ended in farce, as according to him, the dead men’s families were given a mere US$15,000 as compensation. As we may recall, this was the July 2012 protest against a proposed electricity tariff hike in Linden.

So, I am wondering where Freddie Kissoon now stands. The flip-flopper is ‘loudly’ silent on a number of issues not at all dissimilar to what he protested in the pre-2015 era, when Bharrat Jagdeo and Donald Ramotar were at the helm.

According to him at that time: “With a new president since December 2012 (Donald Ramotar), Guyana’s authoritarian overdrive continued. He elaborated that “From the time Mr. Jagdeo became autocratic and ruled with an iron fist, the PNC (not APNU) has been blamed for the terrible things that are happening in Guyana.” (NB. This still goes on daily). In the end, he summarised that since, according to the PPP/C, there was “… a big and bad PNC opposition that was the cause of all of Guyana’s political and social atrocities… (yet) this very PNC makes this despotic country look like an oasis of serenity, when Guyanese take a look at protest around the world.” See what was his drift?

Has asked at that time, “In a country where democratic governance has long disappeared, one must ask; where is the PNC’s creation of anti-government activism? Where are the demonstrations led by the PNC?

The call-out then is for Freddie Kissoon to agitate against this PPP/C Government. In fact, back in 2008, he once made the call for an Indian Walter Rodney to rise up in a Rodney-like manner against the wrongdoings of the PPP/C Government. A few months ago, Dr. Jerry Jailall intoned that “Guyanese supporters must pressure PPP/C to ensure new Oil Contracts give us more income.” Just back in December, one of the dailies noted that “Oil sales agreement (were) shrouded in secrecy, even as the Government was continuing to violate the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) standards that require full publication of oil sales agreement. How about confrontation for the developing Marriott sale. Here are a few others: Calls for independent COIs into things like the Fagundes killing, the sudden wealth accumulation of Government Ministers, and a paper trail into lands acquired by Ramnaresh Sarwan and President Irfaan Ali during the tenure of Jagdeo. Editor, I can go on and on ad infinitum, but I leave the rest to the ubiquitous Freddie Kissoon – unless he was ‘generously’ silenced.

Yours truly,

Gaylord Riley