Excusing illegality in one sphere while condemning it in another is folly

Nov 06, 2012 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
I write in response to two letters you published (by Satesh Mohabir on 10/31/12 and Vishnu Bisram on 11/1/12) in response to my letter (KN 10/30/12) on EZjet and its former CEO Sonny Ramdeo.  Because I was affected by the electricity outage caused by Hurricane Sandy here in the U.S., I was unable to respond earlier.
I start by responding to Satesh Mohabir’s claim that I am Nohar Singh, formerly known as Nohar Ramkishun. I categorically state that I am not Nohar Singh or Nohar Ramkishun. In fact, I never knew of Nohar Singh or Nohar Ramkishun until Mr. Mohabir made his demonstrably false claim. So, Mr. Mohabir, except for categorically denying that I am Nohar Singh or Nohar Ramkishun, I am unable to dispute any of the other allegations or the vitriol in your letter.
I now turn to Vishnu Bisram, who seems obliged to respond to my letters. It is fortuitous that each response reveals him to be an enabler whose core principle is that he is prepared to embrace whatever position he finds emotionally salving or self-serving to himself and those of his ilk at a particular moment in time.
So whether it is as a well-known enabler of the PPP’s dictatorial governance or now as an enabler of Sonny Ramdeo’s alleged fraudulent acts, Mr. Bisram continues to expose himself as a man who is eminently qualified to be greeted with opprobrium and suspicion, and have his views on Sonny Ramdeo’s alleged fraudulent acts examined in light of his oft-repeated condemnation of the PNC for rigging elections in Guyana.
When I initially read Mr. Bisram’s remark that “Guyanese were (and are) not interested in knowing whose money was funding the carrier [Ezjet].
They are more interested in the service and the availability of flights…,” I was offended and dumbstruck on three levels. First, I could not believe that Mr. Bisram had decided that the Guyanese who are questioning the source of EZjet’s funding are not to be considered as Guyanese.
Second, I was aghast that Mr. Bisram, based on conversations with those of his ilk, had taken it upon himself to pronounce that all Guyanese see the EZjet issue as he does. And, third, I could not believe that Mr. Bisram actually wrote those words, particularly because he knew that he was commenting on allegations that EZjet has been funded by stolen money.
As I thought about the implications of Mr. Bisram’s transparent belief that it is okay to source money through fraud to fund a low-fare airline to relieve Guyanese from the burden of relatively high airfares, I could not help but think about Mr. Bisram’s penchant for condemning the PNC for committing election fraud to relieve those Guyanese who felt they needed relief from the burden of PPP rule.
Mr. Bisram may raise the issue of false moral equivalence, but I believe that there are clear parallels between Sonny Ramdeo’s salient actions that have been defended by Mr. Bisram and the PNC’s salient actions that have been condemned by him.
Mr. Bisram offers a scrap-paper analysis of the positive contribution that the allegedly fraud-funded EZjet makes or will make to our economy, but he refuses to acknowledge the positive contribution of the PNC to our nation’s development because the PNC obtained power through fraud.
I can go on and on, but will not do so, because I think that I have made the point of the folly of anyone excusing or turning a blind eye to illegality committed in one sphere while unreservedly condemning illegality in another sphere. I also believe that Mr. Bisram’s clear adherence to the principle of the end justifying the means must have come as music to the ears of the PNC, which with others will ask him to re-read his letter every time he in the future accuses the PNC of rigging elections or howls at anyone about illegalities.
In closing, I would like to point out that high airfares are the function of the marketplace, and are not underpinned by any enabling laws or regulations passed by Sonny Ramdeo’s former employer or anyone else. So, while Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela were justified in engaging in and encouraging illegal acts (ignoring laws that supported their oppression), Sonny Ramdeo’s alleged fraudulent actions against his employer cannot be glorified, excused, or ignored because Bisram and others of his ilk believe that airfares to Guyana are too high.
As a patriot who regularly makes remittances to Guyana, I wholeheartedly support the goal of cheaper airfares to Guyana, but I reject the commission of illegalities in pursuit of that goal.
Lionel Lowe

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