Jagdeo looks forward to ‘wonderful day’ in court with Freddie Kissoon

Jul 25, 2010 News

….Kissoon looks forward to “wonderful weeks”

President Bharrat Jagdeo said, on Friday, he has charged libel against Kaieteur News and daily columnist Freddie Kissoon because, according to him, the newspaper crossed the “racism” line.
President Bharrat Jagdeo is suing Kissoon and Kaieteur News for over $10M, claiming libel in a publication on June 28, last.
The President claimed that the article suggests that he is a racist and that “by extension, the State and Government of Guyana, practise racism as an ideology, dogma, philosophy and policy.”
On Friday, Jagdeo told the media that he was looking forward to the “wonderful day” in court when Kissoon will have to prove that he, Jagdeo, is a racist and that his government’s policy has its origin in racism.
Yesterday, Kissoon said he is looking forward to that time too, but not for a day.
“I am looking forward to when my lawyer will put Jagdeo in the witness stand and that testimony from Mr Jagdeo, I anticipate, will take wonderful weeks, not days,” Kissoon stated.
“The Kaieteur News and Freddie Kissoon have been maligning me and cussing me all the time and I have ignored him…But they crossed one line and this has nothing to do with personal anymore.
I see them trying to whip up, once again, racial sentiments in our society. And that is what I’m not going to tolerate,” Jagdeo told reporters at the Presidential Complex in Georgetown.
The President accused Kissoon of being a non-academic “because he never wrote a single piece of paper” in his 35 years at the University of Guyana.
“I am challenging Mr Jagdeo that I will show him published research in respected books, edited by respected academics, and if I produce that, I challenge Mr Jagdeo to resign,” Kissoon charged.
The columnist said that he will resign immediately if Jagdeo takes up the challenge and he, Kissoon, is unable to produce the evidence of his research.
“He has to prove that I’m racist and he has to prove that my government’s policies have their origins in that, in court, so I’m looking forward to this wonderful day in court when we do that,” Jagdeo stated.
He said that in the allocation of resources, the government is fair and this could be seen in allocations across regions and sectors.
“…We’ve made it clear that the government will not countenance any form of discrimination against any people.”
In his ex-parte application to the court, the President stated that Kissoon inferred that the State and Government of Guyana have an institutionalised policy to degrade, de-humanise and pulverise Guyanese of African descent.
“…That I, and, by extension, the State and Government of Guyana, routinely act in contravention of Article 149 of the Constitution which guarantees to all citizens of this country protection from racial discrimination as a fundamental right and freedom.”
The article, the President claimed in his affidavit, also suggested that he, and by extension, the State and Government of Guyana, use unconstitutional and unlawful methods including, thuggery, force and intimidation, to silence critics and that they have contravened the fundamental right and freedom of citizens of Guyana to express, communicate and disseminate their views and opinions as guaranteed by Article 146 of the Constitution of Guyana and are guilty of a criminal offence.
“That I am guilty of violating the Constitution of Guyana and therefore liable to be removed from office under Article 180 of the Constitution; that I am unfit to hold the high Constitutional offices of the Executive President, the Constitutional Head of State, Head of Government, the Supreme Executive Authority and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.”
The President claimed that the “libel” caused him and the entire government of Guyana great public embarrassment, “held us up to odium and ridicule, both nationally and internationally.”

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The new building

GBTI launches $2.6B Corporate Office
– offers first drive-thru ATM

The Guyana Bank For Trade and Industry Limited (GBTI) yesterday launched its $2.6B spanking new corporate office in Kingston. On hand were high-level invitees, among them President Bharrat Jagdeo, Prime Minister Sam Hinds, several Government Ministers and members of the private sector.
In addition to the country’s first drive-thru ATM, the facility will house the administrative staffers of the bank which also disclosed that it is gearing to launch its Web Banking services within days.
A bust of Edward B. Beharry, founder of the company, which is the largest shareholder of GBTI, was also unveiled in the lobby of the new offices by President Jagdeo and several of the younger Beharrys.
(SEE FULL STORY IN TOMORROW’s EDITION)