The difference between me and President Jagdeo

Jan 11, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

The ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, has not been credited with the discovery of the concept of obligation. If asked, most academics will say that the value of obligation in life can be dated in philosophy to the 17th century onwards, particularly in the Eighteenth Century with the advent of the Enlightenment.

William Shakespeare was not a trained philosopher but understood the nature of ontology just as any of the great thinkers from Socrates right onto the 21st century. Many of Shakespeare’s tragedies have the sub-plot of the failure of obligation. But Plato is owed a debt because in “The Republic” he did stress the role of the state’s obligation to its lower classes and the ruling class obligation to its subjects in general.

It is because of this sacred concept, I cannot reply in personal terms to President Jagdeo. The reason is because I have an obligation to my family. I have been married for thirty years and I have a 19-year-old daughter. I am bound to invoke their wrath if I speak in derogatory terms of anyone much less the President of the country. My family would not permit such unbecoming conduct from a teacher, a husband and a father.

Mr. Jagdeo does not have that pressure on him. So he can use nasty nouns and unpleasant adjectives to describe me and there is no family to castigate him for conduct unbecoming – no wife, no children.

For years now, I have been doing a daily KN column and when you throw in a lot of letters over the years to both independent dailies then that constitutes many viewpoints. Never have I heard Mr. Jagdeo make reference to any of my theories, paradigms, theses, adumbrations, posits, postulates, conceptualizations, perceptions, beliefs and indictments against his performance.

Whenever my name comes out of his mouth, it is an insult based on the use of personal tags. I repeat, Mr. Jagdeo has never rebutted any opinion of mine with an opposing opinion. It is always an insult.

On my rejection on PM Hinds’s open admission that to dissolve the radio monopoly may encourage a Rwanda-like situation in Guyana, Mr. Jagdeo in front of his press conference, called me a sleaze ball. In front of another press conference, he referred to me as a fool as a reaction to my column that PM Golding of Jamaica had Mr. Jagdeo in mind when he referred to a country in CARICOM that is a panhandler, always begging the international community proclaiming how poor the country is.

Addressing the PPP congress last August he called me a pseudo intellectual. Last Wednesday, again at his press briefing, Mr. Jagdeo made an uncalled-for remark about my physical appearance. I cannot reply in kind because no decent newspaper anywhere in the world would print my personal attack on Mr. Jagdeo.
But I would not lower my dignity to pen a note on Mr. Jagdeo with the usage of non-academic semantics because I have an obligation to my family.

My concern is Mr. Jagdeo’s performance as President of Guyana. I have no interest and will never have any interest in the aesthetic inclinations, hirsute appearance or physical manifestations of any office-holder. These are complete non-issues for me. I once remarked on this page that Mr. Jagdeo’s choice of venue to insult me is always his turf – the press conference.

I attended the launching of the Guyana Times after he finished speaking. But he was there in the mingling after the official ceremony was over and we were in close physical proximity to each other. I noticed he never looked in my direction. I was waiting for the occasion at that event when the site would have shifted from the little boy’s playground to the intellectual contest.

It never occurred. Had it, then we would have separated the personal attacker from the analytical critic. We would have seen how good Mr. Jagdeo was in defending his record or how bad I was when it came to exposing the failed governance of Mr. Jagdeo.

It does not look like the little boy’s playground will ever become an intellectual arena. As for me, I will continue to do what I have to do; try to save this country from tyranny by speaking out. I will not be deterred by presidential insults. Mr. Jagdeo must know the consequences of his resort to his out-of-protocol action. It brings disrespect from the citizens of Guyana.

People will not show deference to a Head of State who resorts to undiplomatic language to describe people that disagree with him. All Mr. Jagdeo is doing with his unusual style is to sully the prestige of the high office of the presidency. What next insult do you have for me, Sir?

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The difference between me and President Jagdeo

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