The President said the Ministers work for him

Mar 28, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Minister Robeson Benn is very upset at my column yesterday. For what I do not know because in Guyana when something is public knowledge, the entire country knows about it. Minister Benn is livid over what he claims can be an interpretation in my article that his name was linked to Roger Khan in the recently released wire tapping material in the Roger Khan criminal investigation. How in God’s name could Mr. Benn assume so when I wrote in that article that the Minister in question was named.
How can Minister Benn think it was him when all over Guyana, citizens have read that the people spoken about were Ministers Ramsammy and Gajraj. But more than this, reporters have asked the President a question on Minister Ramsammy’s name in the wire-tapping scenario. And they have directed questions to Minister Ramsammy himself. The Roger Khan catastrophe is all over Guyana.
Where did anyone ever made an infinitesimal reference to Mr. Benn? So how did Mr. Benn arrive at his analysis that I meant him?
When the President returned to Guyana, Minister Benn was in confrontation with the striking air-traffic controllers. In fact they were fired. At his press conference, where he announced the reinstatement of the airport employees, Mr. Jagdeo took a dig at GPSU President, Patrick Yarde, by exclaiming; “Minister Benn works for me not for Patrick Yard.” If Minister Benn is occupationally bound to the President, then so is Minister Ramsammy. What my column did yesterday was to underscore the point that if Benn is the President’s direct employee so is Ramsammy.
Let me quote myself “Here you have a Minister who works for the President that is named in a serious criminal offence in the United States.”
What has that got to do with Minister Benn? Nothing! His name came up within the context of how the President sees his Ministers. The President interprets the relation as one in which the Ministers are his direct employees and he cited Minister Benn. I mentioned a Minister that is named in the wire-tapping conversation so by extension that Minister works for the President. That Minister is Dr. Ramsammy.
The transcript refers to his name. Let me repeat my point as outlined in the column that Minister Benn has taken objection to. If President Jagdeo sees Minister Benn as working for him, then logical deduction will have it that the other Ministers do the same. Therefore the Minister named in the wire-tapping release works for the President.
Unfortunately, Minister Benn is upset because he believes my column yesterday could be viewed as him being the Minister I pointed to. I still don’t get it when a majority of Guyanese know that it was Minister Ramsammy who was named in the tape. But one has to understand in life we have different strokes for different folks.
If Minister Benn seeks to evaluate one of my columns in a way I find incredible then Mr. Benn is still entitled to his opinion. His opinion can change when clarification is given to him. One hopes he is satisfied with the dissolution of any grey area or obfuscation by the composition of these notes here. I guess I owe Minister Benn an apology. I am never and will never be too big to apologize. So here is an apology to you Minister Benn.
This misunderstanding brings into sharp focus the way the leading actors in the government see the cross-currents and the crisscrossing impulses in society. I have apologised to Minister Benn but I would ask him to consider the mental currents that were in my mind when I wrote my piece yesterday. If he had done that, then maybe his irritation would not have taken place. Here is a tape that all media functionaries either have or have listen to. The contents of the tape are carried on television and in the print media.
Minister Ramsammy’s name came up in the tape. Reporters have openly asked the President about this particular Minister and have posed question to the Minister himself. The entire episode is public knowledge. Up comes Freddie Kissoon and insinuates that it is Robeson Benn. Does that make any sense at all? Why leave the man that is mentioned in the wire-tapping and go for Minister Benn? Why not other Ministers? Why not the Minister of Home Affairs whose portfolio deals with security? Why not the Minister of Defence (the President) whose jurisdiction includes security matters?
But as I wrote above – Minister Benn has the right to his opinion though not necessarily the right opinion.

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The President said the Ministers work for him

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