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Clifton Bacchus invokes race to defend his casino license

Mar 10, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
I write to respond to the letter of Mr. Clifton Bacchus in relation to his proposed casino in Church Street. It would have been good if he or his advisor had properly read my letter as I was not objecting to casinos in Guyana but the location.
This is my last response in this matter but I wish to make some points in relation to some aspects of Mr. Bacchus’s letter. As regards his having a Memorandum of Understanding with the previous Government that was a matter which was unknown to me and it seems to the public. He was and is very close to members of the former Government and the former President and even travelled with him abroad.
I still maintain that whenever a casino license is to be granted in a residential area or in Georgetown then the public must know of it and be given an opportunity to be heard. Whenever one applies for a liquor or hotel license that application is published in the newspapers and a notice affixed on the premises. A casino license has a greater impact and those who are vested in the power to grant approval must act diligently and be appreciative of any adverse or perceived impact on the community.
Mr. Bacchus mentioned that there is a Gentleman’s Club near to the mosque and that there are Brazilian and Columbian female entertainers there but that I did not object to this because as he put it –”Is it because the owner is his client or his relative or a person of his own ethnic group.”  For his information the owner is not my client nor is he my relative. I do not know who the owner is so I cannot speak of his ethnicity and it was only after Mr. Bacchus’s letter did I find out what business may be carried on there. I object to Mr. Bacchus trying to bring race into this issue and I was greatly affronted when he messaged me and called me a racist. I have never been called this before and I have always tried in all my endeavors to condemn racism.
Mr. Bacchus also stated that I made persistent efforts to sell him a property near to St George’s Cathedral. I am not calling him a liar but I do not recall trying to sell him that property as in that time he was not in my radar as a person who could have afforded to buy the property but within the recent years he has come a far way.  How he traversed that path is not for me to say and I make no allegations or imputations.
The other objectionable matter in his letter is his reference to my mother and that I grew up in Main Street and I am sure he meant – the Cambridge Hotel. For the record I grew up in Middle and East Streets and never in Main Street. I feel sure that Mr. Bacchus may not have written the letter as he would not have wanted to compare family matters and what has befallen members of his family. I will not do so as I had a lot of respect for his late father and also his mother and will not sink to that low level.
 K.A. Juman-Yassin
Attorney-at-Law

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