Nagamootoo, libel and a shithole country

Jul 23, 2019 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Here are the words of perhaps the most lacklustre, powerless Prime Minister any country ever had, Moses Nagamootoo: “… and launched a nasty, vicious, and defamatory media campaign against me. Several full-page ads were published, with the libel repeated and republished that I had “personally benefitted” from his largesse. It was clear that the landlord was accusing me of taking bribes or kick-backs from his businesses, which I vehemently deny as untrue.

Freddie Kissoon

It is evident that both of the proprietors of the Sussex Street Bond and New GPC Inc. have made false and damaging statements against me. They now have an opportunity of doing the right thing. Further, I say not.”
Therefore, the powerless politician who collected less ballots in his home town of Whim in the 2015 general election and the 2018 local government poll is threatening libel. Nagamootoo denies he took bribes from the businessman. But Charrandass Persaud denied he took a bribe to vote yes for the Opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion (NCM) in December last year.
Nagamootoo has been the leading accuser of Charran taking a bribe. He repeatedly published the claim in his Chronicle columns (I don’t know if he cares to tell us what Chronicle’s circulation is like). Of course, the Kaieteur News and the Stabroek News never carried such an accusation. They wouldn’t, because the most common libel to win, and one in which a judge would be harsh on the defendant, is to accuse a plaintiff of taking a bribe and no proof could be supplied to the court. Nagamootoo and Barrington Braithwaite chose the Chronicle to make their charge of money taking against Charran, and to date, no libel has been filed against the Chronicle.
It reminds one of what a shithole country Guyana has become. The Prime Minister is overtaken with anger over what a businessman said about him – but the very Prime Minister told the nation that a parliamentarian chose money over principle when he voted for the NCM.
Here are the words of Nagamootoo on Charrandass: “Though the police would not give details, all indications are that the man was bought, which made him cast what Guyanese widely believe to be an unlawful vote.”
Well it is seven months and days since the NCM, and the police are still to give details about money Charrandass took. Where are the indications that Charran was bought? How can a Prime Minister mouth off such scandalous assertions without even backing up his trenchant indictment with at least one sentence that would tell the very limited readership of the Chronicle of the bribe-taking character of Charran?
Here are more stupidities from Nagamootoo and I repeat the quote: “…what Guyanese widely believe to be an unlawful vote.” Which poll did Nagamootoo take to determine how the Guyanese people saw the no-confidence vote (NCV)? Let’s confront this man’s propaganda. In stage one, the Chief Justice ruled the NCV was legal. In stage two, there was a split vote in the Court of Appeal. In stage three, the CCJ was unanimous that the NCV was legal.
Here is more propaganda from Nagamootoo of how widespread was the condemnation of the NCV; “At the 2015 elections, the APNU+AFC coalition received in excess of 206,000 votes, and it was allotted 33 seats in the National Assembly. Those voters would not accept that a single rogue MP, coming from a regional slate, could conspire to bring down their government.”
What this man chose to hide are two brutal aspects of electoral democracy in Guyana. Those votes he cited were a mere 4,500 ballots more than what the opposition got, and those 33 seats he mentioned became 33 because one parliamentary seat went to the APNU+AFC because of a difference of one vote in Region 8. Finally, the 33 seats are just more than the opposition.
Surely, those figures cannot support the contention of Nagamootoo that the Guyanese nation widely viewed the NCV as an unlawful vote.
So is Nagamootoo going to sue for libel? The answer is yes, because this is a shithole country, where one man calls his critic a fool and the critic sues for libel and the next day the very critic refers to other people as fools.
What we don’t know is when Nagamootoo sues, if Charran is going to use the opportunity to file a writ against Nagamootoo. But there is a big but. But suppose Nagamootoo does have proof that Charran took a bribe? Then Charran would have to pay costs. That should not be a problem, because according to Nagamootoo, Charran has money. Nagamootoo wrote; “He (Charran) was also loaded with U.S. currency.” I heard Moses has U.S. currency too.

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