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Guyana: Hardly normal with hardly honest people 

Jun 12, 2011 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I do confess that many persons have told me over the long years that I am too blunt, too confrontational and argumentative. But who are these people who have proffered this advice? Enter Eusi Kwayana.
One day, in 1985, I was alone with Eusi Kwayana in the WPA office. You are always comfortable seeking advice from Kwayana because he will honestly guide you.
I told Kwayana that there are some people in the struggle that I am not comfortable with and that they are not comfortable with me either. I asked him to explain their attitude.
The elder statesman told me that the middle class in Guyana have certain values. And though these values may not be relevant in most contexts, you must conform to them. If you ignore or disregard these values, they will ostracize you.
I will always remember this advice from Eusi Kwayana. It has been one of the most important pieces of knowledge ever passed on to me. There is an African rights citizen in this land who I am not going to name.
I know his temperament so I know he is not going to give me permission to name him. He is a good friend going way back. He is not Tacuma Ogunseye just in case you hazard a guess.
The year was 1989. The site was the junction of South Road and Alexander Street. There was a bicycle shop there and I was going to buy a bike.
He said to me; “Suh you writing for Stabroek News. Yuh gun able to get along with dem people? Ah warning yuh. You nah gun last long”
This is a conversation I will never ever forget. He and Kwayana were so right. I have been around a long time and what I see in this country has made me into a person who will forever do what I believe in and follow my own golden set of values.
I have little respect for many persons who have fought the dictatorship of Forbes Burnham and who are currently against the autocracy of Bharrat Jagdeo. I have little regard for the values of many in this society who have status and are looked up to by sections of this country.
Try being the nice guy in this land, behave diplomatically and avoid confrontation and you end up being depressed. But you also end up being the puppet of others. You will never be comfortable mentally for the rest of your life.
When you think you should be quiet and show refined behaviour in front of John or Joan, the very John and Joan are morally repugnant people who do not deserve your respect.
That will never be my attitude to life and to people in Guyana. If you insult me, I will tell you off and I will be willing and happy to do so. Show me respect and I will show you that too.
Don’t lay down values for me and you don’t follow your own values. I had a rude awakening at Stabroek News and I have written about that several times over the past two decades, so no point in going over that. But here is another example of contorted values.
I was driving on Carmichael Street when I got a call. I pulled over. The person on the line is someone I like. He is an opposition supporter. He is someone in society with status.
He complained that my friend Mark Benschop had posted on his website, guyanaobservernews.org, a very unbecoming comment on President Jagdeo that someone like Benschop should not do. In other words he was referring to moral principles.
I immediately called Benschop and requested, based on our friendship, he take it down. Benschop did that immediately. I was shocked and surprised, a few weeks later, that this very caller, who has a blog page, had the photograph of Charles Ramson and Bharrat Jagdeo exchanging pleasantries.
I was eating a burger at Big Daddy’s and I called him over. We walked in front of the Theatre Guild and I expressed profound irritation that he could have cited moral inappropriateness at what Benschop did. But he had a large photograph of Ramson and Jagdeo on his blog.
I told him in vexatious terms that I disagreed with what he did in the context of moral principles. I explained that it was wrong for him to do that because Ramson and Jagdeo have played negative roles in this country (to put it mildly). I was happy he agreed with me.
This is the kind of situation I have faced in my entire life in this society. People want you to behave in a certain way to them but they don’t reciprocate. You see some of the biggest perverts, biggest exploiters, biggest fools, wealthy criminals getting praise from this society that they don’t deserve. I will continue to be me. Period!

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