Freddie Kissoon should apologise for his attacks on Eusi Kwayana

Jun 12, 2020 Letters

Dear Editor,

It is with trepidation that I write this article. I am very fearful that Freddie Kissoon will find something on me in his archives. Or even more damning, he will find someone who knows the “real” Rohit Kanhai outside of Kanhai’s public posturing. The true person will be revealed, the public person exposed for his/her hypocrisy. It is like having a Freddie Krueger nightmare. What Freddie dreams up can have real consequences in the real world.

Some of Kissoon’s attacks on the WPA over the years, on occasions, were justified. To a large extent, the WPA has had missteps, and should be criticized. Nevertheless, to personalize political problems as the failure of individuals, is another matter. In this regard, Dr. Kissoon has targeted the leaders of the WPA with a venomous mindset that is remarkable. His attack on Eusi Kwayana revealed that Kissoon’s arsenal can be quite deadly, if it backfires.

Kissoon dignifies his recent “exchange” with Kwayana as a “debate”. There was no debate in that exchange. Kwayana simply stated that “paper will bear anything that is written on it”. It was the lack of a debate that inflamed Kissoon, that his ire got fired up. He responded quite predictably by resorting to “someone” who had the “juice” on Kwayana. In essence, he put on his historian cap, adorned with a feather from his “reliable source”, finally exposing the “real” Kwayana. Voila!

Kissoon has employed the tried and trusted method of singing praises to the person you desire to “chop down” as a means of expressing regret for having been forced to “do the right thing” to serve a higher purpose, despite your reverence for your victim. This is how the execution of Melville’s “Billy Budd” took place.

Eusi Kwayana is no Billy Budd. Kwayana himself has admitted to his inadequacies on many occasions in understanding the historical moment. He has a magnificent track record on “speaking truth to power”. He filed complaints against two ministers for using public property for personal use, when it was not politically expedient to do so. He was one of the founding fathers of the WPA, which was born in the anti-dictatorship struggle. There is no need to list Kwayana’s public life, which Kissoon is fully aware of. His argument is that this public figure is a sham. He has access to an authentic source that exposes the real Eusi Kwayana that has fooled us all along.

Not surprisingly, he has shown a consistency in his access to truthful sources. During the life of the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry, as Kwayana was giving evidence, Kissoon wrote an article claiming that there was a witness who would contradict what Kwayana was saying on the witness stand

He has also consistently attacked Tacuma Ogunseye over the years. If his claim, that Ogunseye was forced to drop the libel suit because the evidence was compelling, is correct, then he could have released the evidence. It is not too late to do so. The question that needs to be answered by Kissoon is why is he so intent upon killing an entity that he has pronounced dead for the umpteenth time. Perhaps he wants to become a mortician, and has been practicing on the WPA as an entry point into the profession. He has had enough practice, and can console himself that he cannot kill his victims if his diagnosis is faulty. That does not exonerate him from the charges of misadventure, which has consequences for the living. He should consult Ms. Pat Rodney and Donald Rodney on this matter.

It is noteworthy that Kissoon’s attack on Kwayana, that he was condoning the behavior of Justice Claudette Singh in aiding and abetting the rigging of the elections, has proven to be false. Kwayana is an “institutionalist”, who does not prejudge official judgments until it is rendered from the official source. In this respect, Kissoon should apologize to Kwayana. It is his arrogance at being proven wrong that has forced him to launch this attack upon Kwayana.

Yours truly,
Rohit Kanhai

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