Kissoon ought to apologise for misrepresenting Bisram’s statements

Aug 06, 2008 Letters

Dear Editor,
My investigation has found that Mr. Freddie Kissoon has distorted Mr. Vishnu Bisram’s Guyana poll findings of April 2008 in his letter captioned “Dr. Persaud should state exactly why he supports PPP” (SN, July 13).

I should note that I love both Bisram and Kissoon. Kissoon claims he is a historian and not a political scientist, and that there is no such discipline as political science.

I think they both should direct their energy towards the development of the nation, instead of attacking each other. Both men are competent in their fields, and through their writings can perform an important role to Guyanese readers with their penmanship and analyses.

In several responses to Kissoon, Bisram alleged that Kissoon distorted what he penned in his letters and the findings of his survey. Bisram offered some examples, which were never refuted by Kissoon.

I decided to investigate whether Kissoon distorted Mr. Bisram’s NACTA poll findings in his letter. In going after Dr. Randy Persaud, Kissoon penned that Bisram’s survey showed “a high percentage of popularity for President Jagdeo”. I returned to SN’s archives and found the NACTA poll findings that were published.

The May 2 issue of SN headlined: “Majority dissatisfied with Govt.”. That is not exactly an endorsement of the popularity of President Jagdeo as Kissoon interpreted Bisram. I read the details of the article, which reported that the NACTA poll found only 40% of the population said they were satisfied with the performance of President Jagdeo.

So how Kissoon formed his conclusion that Bisram wrote that “Jagdeo is very popular” baffles the intelligent mind.

I also looked at the May 3 issue of SN, which was headlined: “NACTA poll finds widespread opposition to VAT”. That is also not an endorsement of President Jagdeo’s popularity. In fact, it is the exact opposite of what Kissoon penned that Bisram found in the polls.

And, finally, I looked at the May 1 issue of SN, headlined “NACTA poll: Sharma TV suspension excessive”. This article on the NACTA poll’s findings severely critiqued President Jagdeo.

There are also other evidence that I gathered which reveal that Kissoon has not been exactly accurate in his interpretation and paraphrasing of statements penned by Bisram. Suffice it to say that Bisram has been right in his complaint about Kissoon distorting his record.

The above three investigations are enough to convince any rational person that Kissoon did indeed distort Bisram’s poll findings. This begs two simple questions – why is Freddie Kissoon stretching the facts? What does he hope to achieve by misrepresenting Bisram’s position and polls?

Kissoon wrote repeatedly that he would end his columns if ever he were proven to write “falsehoods”. Now Kissoon has been exposed in deliberately distorting Bisram’s polls.

However, I humbly appeal to Kissoon not to retire from writings. I just hope he writes accurately, and not distort anyone’s position. I also urge him to pen a public apology to Vishnu Bisram, our celebrated pollster, and to cease and desist in his ongoing attacks on the gentleman.

Radha Chinsammy

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