Accused must get due process

Oct 09, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
Kaieteur News daily columnist, Freddie Kissoon, in a few of his columns is in full glee that three of his prominent critics, Kwame McCoy, Evan Persaud, and Dr. Walter Ramsahoye have made the news on “criminal allegations” over the last few weeks.
I do not know any of these men except what I read in the media and have been told about them.
I am told that Dr. Ramsahoye is one of the leading medical minds in Guyana and is widely respected throughout the Caribbean region. I hold no brief for him or the other two accused and they should be held accountable for their actions.
But any decent person should express concern about the condemnations of these men by Freddie when these men have not had an opportunity to be heard by their accusers.
As an academic and as someone who claims to be a strong labour union representative, Freddie ought to know better than to condemn these men before they have had due process. Given the nature of the allegations, it is understandable that lay people, who don’t understand the law or are lacking in legal sophistication, are up in arms against the men. As a sociologist and teacher, I can understand peoples’ anger.
But Freddie has no excuse in attacking the men – he teaches at our solitary tertiary educational institution and ought to set a proper example to his charges.
Academics and professionals are not supposed to give opinions condemning the accused until they have had their day “in court”.
I was a teachers’ union rep for seven years representing teachers who at times faced all kinds of allegations. I did not pass judgment on the teachers and I got several of them cleared of petty charges.
A union rep ought to show solidarity with his colleagues even if they are enemies.
A union rep needs to be quiet if he has nothing positive to say about a colleague under investigation.
A union rep must mount the best defence for an accused.
A union rep ought not to give his personal opinion to convict the accused or to pass judgment. That is for a judge or jury based on the evidence.
No lawyer or any other academic has so far rendered an opinion on the allegations against the three men. Naturally, I was taken aback when Kissoon condemned the men simply because they are his detractors or bete noires. Freddie has personalized the issue (as is his practice) just because he has disagreements with the men. Freddie asked President Jagdeo (who once described him as a “sleazeball” for his misrepresentations of facts and Freddie protested the label) – who is the sleazeball now – Freddie or the men (two of whom worked for Jagdeo) facing allegations?
Well based on established principles on how an academic or union rep should behave, it seems that Freddie has not moved beyond a sleazeball.
He does not comprehend the principles of due process and the law not surprising since he says there is no such thing as Pol Sci which I studied.
The men deserve due process especially because the allegations are serious. Does Freddie want the government to punish the men without due process? Is he showing his freudian/facist slip by pushing the government to violate the constitution?
Then he would say Guyana is a dictatorship. Let the law take its course! Incidentally, I read in the papers that Dr. Ramsahoye, a man of impeccable credentials, has no charge to answer because the DPP has not filed any charge and his accuser said there is no case. So Freddie has misrepresented the facts again. When will the misrepresentations end?
Vishnu Bisram

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