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A retraction is in order

Oct 04, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
Parents and elders would chide us whenever we do “wrong” things. If we were caught lying, our parents would whip us or impose some other form of punishment. We were raised with good values to be honest, mannerly and straight.
If we hurt someone, we apologise. When Kaieteur News reporters or editors made errors, they apologise and for this I respect and admire them.
An apology is a sign of maturity and is harmless to the apologist. An apology is expected from people of repute.
Bisram recently apologised for writing he is the highest paid teacher. So, I don’t understand why Mr. Freddie Kissoon or a politician like Ms. Sheila Holder, don’t want to apologise for slandering or libeling Vishnu Bisram for indiscretions.
Kissoon said he did research and found that Mr. Bisram is not a teacher anywhere in the world. He subsequently confirmed that Bisram was teaching over 25 years in NY. What does it take for Kissoon to say he erred and tender an apology? Incidentally, it would have been smart of Kissoon to simply check with someone who knows about NY-based Guyanese to find out if Bisram was a teacher.
He could have asked Moses Nagamootoo, Prem Misir, Leslie Ramsammy, even Khemraj Ramjattan, or any other prominent person living in NY.
They would have confirmed to him Bisram is a teacher. Freddie, Bisram is no ordinary Guyanese. He is the most prolific Guyanese (maybe Caribbean) newspaper writer in NY – for free. He is among the most hard working Guyanese community advocate and organiser in the city.
There is hardly a Guyanese activity in Queens that he is not a part of. And he also tutors students for free.
NYC teacher Mike Persaud is right to describe Kissoon as “a lunatic fringe” for writing to the principal of the school where Bisram teaches to find out if he is a teacher. Which rational individual would do a thing like that? His Kaieteur News colleague, Ravi Dev, told him that Bisram teaches in NY. He should have accepted that confirmation.
Kissoon was also wrong about an OAS meeting in Miami in which he, using Sheila Holder’s gossips as a source, claims that Vishnu Bisram’s poll was a subject of discussion, of all places, at the OAS. Is Bisram that important and popular that Holder says the OAS is now discussing the man?
The Assistant Secretary General of the OAS, Albert Ramdin, repudiated both Holder and Kissoon saying no such discussion took place.
Two other participants, men of integrity, also rebuked Holder who now changes her story to say that the discussion on Bisram’s polls was private among a few panelists of the OAS meeting and not an official part of the meeting. In short, she is basically saying it was a gossip.
Holder and Kissoon would smell like a rose if they tender a simple apology that the gossip should not have been put in the public domain to give an impression that it was an OAS sanctioned discussion. That is outright dishonest for which the OAS should take immediate sanctions against both Kissoon and Holder and perhaps the AFC for sending Holder to gossip at an OAS meeting.
Kissoon also needs to apologise about his unsubstantiated claim that NACTA does not exist and that NACTA is a one man organisation.
He now has confirmation that the organisation exists and that it has performed yeoman service to Caribbean people in the region as well as in the Diaspora.
As I previously penned, Bisram is not the founder of NACTA, but has donated generously for the founding of the organisations and its myriad activities and he remains a loyal and dedicated financial supporter of the organisation’s activities.
Freddie, a retraction of your statements is in order since confirmation is made about your queries. That is the minimum expected from an academic.
Vassan Ramracha

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