The Christopher Ram drama

Sep 20, 2010 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

As expected, over the weekend I had to endure consistent questions and commentaries on what President Jagdeo did to Mr. Christopher Ram when he met CLICO shareholders last Thursday at the Cultural Centre. I reminded many of those persons who spoke to me that I penned a column on the encounter last Saturday. I admit I only dealt with one aspect of the incident – the ingrained avoidance of Mr. Jagdeo to go head on into any debate with his critics. What follows are some of the conversations I had two days ago on the Jagdeo/Ram fiasco.
First, as a citizen of this country who I believe has contributed more as much to this nation as Mr. Jagdeo (putting it modestly), I say most boldly, Mr. Jagdeo violated Mr. Ram’s human rights by denying him the right to speak on an issue that directly concerns Mr. Ram, not as an accountant, but as a citizen. Mr. Jagdeo told Mr. Ram that he cannot speak at his meeting. It wasn’t Mr. Jagdeo’s confabulation. It was the chief public servant of the country meeting citizens to discuss what the Government can do to recoup their losses. Mr. Ram is one of those citizens who lost money in CLICO. Mr. Jagdeo then invited questions from CLICO policy holders. Mr. Ram was not an intruder but a person who accepted the invitation from the President issued to CLICO policy holders to listen to him and address him
I call upon all the citizens of this country – editors, business people, church people, academics, students and other stakeholders to insist for Mr. Jagdeo to apologise to Mr. Ram. Let the governmental apologists get the most brilliant lawyers in the world to justify what the President did to Ram. No genius can defend that. It was a graphic case of a citizen being denied his right to participate in a forum in which he had a right to speak. The most dangerous aspect of this sordid affair is the possessive conceptualisations of Mr. Jagdeo when he speaks of Guyana
Defining his dissatisfaction with EPA and with the European Union, Mr. Jagdeo let off a series of personal pronouns never referring at anytime to the words “my government.” Addressing the press on a strike by air traffic controllers hours after he returned to Guyana, Mr. Jagdeo told the reporters, “Minister Benn works for me and not Patrick Yarde.” Now we hear a meeting called to discuss a matter of grave concern for the financial well-being of a large amount of citizens, Mr. Jagdeo exclaimed to Mr. Ram that he, Ram was at Mr. Jagdeo’s meeting.
The question was asked of me as to if Mr. Ram should have been there in the first place. I don’t think any logical mind would answer that in the negative. I don’t believe for a moment Mr. Ram envisaged a situation where he would be denied the right to speak. It is my guess that Ram figured that he was going to get some serious flack so he probably armed himself with his documents to prove his point. There is no way a policy-holder like Christopher Ram would have missed the occasion to argue his point. If Ram had told me he was going, I would have advised that he be prepared to fight. I honestly don’t believe there were people out there who would have thought that Ram would not have been allowed to speak.
I dealt with Mr. Jagdeo’s fear of being devastated in any discussion forum in my Saturday column and it was anticipated that Mr. Jagdeo would have avoided a clash with Ram. But to endanger his credibility in the way he did on Thursday has certainly lowered the President in the eyes of the people of Guyana. There are literally millions of ways to avoid a question. This is elementary politics and certainly Mr. Jagdeo had to know about those methodologies.
First, just offer your own rebuttal however soft or shortened it is. Secondly, get into a long discussion and carefully avoid the areas you are weak in. Thirdly, ask one of your subordinates to tackle the question. Fourthly, if the guy wants a follow-up, just tell him that he had his say and others are in line. Fifthly, you can do a barefaced thing and take the offensive telling the audience that the questioner doesn’t know what he/she is taking about, just wants to be on stage and then you move to the next in line. It does Mr. Jagdeo no good to have behaved the way he did. He is not a smart leader at all.

Latest News

The Christopher Ram drama

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| February, 14th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Amaya Milk Company backs One Guyana Mashramani Softball Cup

Fitness Express helps to fuel GAPLF...

Brackenridge ready to lead Slingerz FC to Elite...

Day 2 abandoned due to rain, as teams pray for...

Shamar Joseph ‘Shocked and Honoured’...

One Guyana Mashramani Softball Cup set for Sunday...

Features/Columnists

The Opposition is engaged in self-sabotage

OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus

Wanted – ten Guyanese true and trustworthy

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

The Christopher Ram drama

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| February, 14th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]