I did not sue President Jagdeo for libel.

Apr 23, 2013 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

If Mr. Peter Ramsaroop is going to start a political career with the PPP, one hopes he is aware of that old saying about a sinking ship. Of course there is another question; will the PPP welcome on board Mr. Ramsaroop. His shifting sands of political involvement may discourage the PPP.
In the Stabroek News of April 20, Mr. Ramsaroop gave Mr. Nigel Hughes, my lawyer in the Jagdeo libel suit, the following advice; “Mr. Hughes must take his position seriously and realize that in representing a lawsuit whose main premise is racial defence approach only adds to this dilemma we face as a nation…” There can only be one response to such poor, dishonest reasoning – a cuss down of Mr. Ramsaroop. But let us avoid that and offer a multi-faceted lecture to Mr. Ramsaroop.
I did not sue Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo. It was Mr. Jagdeo, while President, who took me to court seeking ten million dollars. By Mr. Ramsaroop’s logic, I should not have offered a defence because race issues were to be brought out in the open and that was not good for Guyana. Mr. Ramsaroop went on to reason (if you look at the rationale behind his advice to Mr. Hughes) that the lawyers I sought should not have taken the case for the same reason. In plain simple language Mr. Ramsaroop is saying that I should not have defended myself.
I will agree to drop my defence once Mr. Ramsaroop pays Mr. Jagdeo the ten million dollars he is asking for, plus aggravated cost plus cost for counsel. It is as simple as that.
If this is the way Mr. Ramsaroop sees life I am not too sure what will become of his future in politics in Guyana. It is important to mention in this context what Mr. Nigel Hughes wrote in the Stabroek News of April 18, 2013. I quote him; “On no less than three occasions, twice before the hearing had commenced and once after the first day of Dr. Luncheon’s testimony, I indicated to the plaintiff’s counsel now the Honourable Attorney General that he may wish to consider deferring the hearing of the case as the evidence which I had in my possession was explosive and may indeed heighten the racial tensions in the country. On each occasion, the plaintiff declined the offer.” (end of quote).
Either Mr. Ramsaroop is dishonest or he does not read important statements coming from the pen of people whose thinking he ought to familiarize himself with if he is going to be of any value to his new found friends in the PPP. Mr.Hughes’ missive appeared in the SN two days before Mr. Ramsaroop publicly penned his advice to Mr. Hughes.
It would appear from his statement to Mr. Hughes that Mr. Ramsaroop is not even in the thinnest of ways familiar with the Jagdeo versus Kissoon libel hearing even though it started in July 2011 and is still in front of the courts.
I presented my research on the practice of racism by the Government of Guyana at an academic conference sponsored by the Guyana Historical Research Society at the National Library in June 2010. Centrally directed thugs (five of them) in a violent drama that brought back memories of the House of Israel goons in the Burnham era tried to disrupt the event and attempted to assault me. The next day in my column I informed the Guyanese people about what took place and included material from my research paper on the practice of racism by the Government.
So not only was I nearly attacked but I got sued too. Now Mr. Ramsaroop finds that it would be a wise thing for Mr. Nigel Hughes and by extension, the other two lawyers, Khemraj Ramjattan and Christopher Ram not to pursue the suit because race matters are out in the open and they will further undermine Guyana’s stability.
Foolishly, Mr. Ramsaroop avoids giving advice to his friends in the PPP that they brought the libel and if it is to end, they have to stop it not my lawyers. Of course, as I wrote above, my lawyers can take Mr. Ramsaroop’s advice and ask the court to halt proceedings. This would mean I concede defeat and have to pay Mr. Jagdeo. That can be arranged as soon as Mr. Ramsaroop signs a check for the millions and millions that Mr. Jagdeo wants.
Finally, one needs to remind Mr. Ramsaroop that Mr. Jagdeo’s chief witness, Roger Luncheon, as reported in the media, could not recollect in about ninety percent of the questions put to him who were the people that received concessions, contracts and employment from Mr. Jagdeo’s Government. Hardly a help to Mr. Jagdeo’s case.

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