Why I stopped reading Freddie Kissoon

Feb 19, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

The motivating factors of the spate of recent columns by Mr. Kissoon are reasonably discernible and reveal some prejudices, which ironically seem to perpetuate the politically constructed and facilitated notion that Guyana is a racially and politically divisive country. For me, it has become painfully obvious that Mr. Kissoon is an opportunist, hanging the topics of his columns where the crumbs fall. Irrespective of whose soup and crumbs he wishes to consume, Mr. Kissoon’s columns of late are a far cry from the once scholarly, unbiased, critical and thought-provoking pieces of years gone by. This reminds me of a famous quote about self-preservation, “People always choose self-preservation over the greater good, most of the time, with the belief that self-preservation is the greater good”.
Up until 2017, I was fond of the writings of Freddie Kissoon, largely because they were controversial and oftentimes delving into his experiences and perceptions of the history of political thought and practice in Guyana. What also drew me to his writings was the sympathy and public support he solicited from his friends and strangers for a wrong committed upon them, mostly by the Guyana Police Force or representatives of the Guyana government.
Readers of Mr. Kissoon know of his self-identification as a scholar of Guyanese and Caribbean History, Guyanese politics and philosophy, namely phenomenology. When challenged to demonstrate his claim to merit, Mr. Kissoon would often reply voluminously about his academic writings, his role in the political struggle against the oppressive phase of the PNC and Burnham term in government and even his struggle against the oppressive phases of the Bharat Jagdeo and Donald Ramotar-led PPP governments.
I noticed a few years after the election of the APNU-AFC Coalition, to form the new Guyana government, Mr. Kissoon, perhaps due to growing disillusionment with the Coalition, penned a series of columns critical of President Granger and the Coalition. He criticised almost every aspect of President Granger’s tenure and overall leadership, even the Government’s measures at the time to strengthen Presidential security. I wonder what Mr. Kissoon thinks now about the luxury-styled vehicles Guyanese and swarms of police and military personnel often seen as part of the security detail of the President and Vice-President. I wonder what his thoughts are about the massive debt future generations of Guyanese will inherit due to the higher cost of borrowing development finance for several large-scale “investments” and projects that have been given the green light. I also wonder what he thinks about the risks and usefulness of the government’s efforts to establish a “border patrol unit.”
In short, I raise these questions to highlight the fact that Mr. Kissoon has seemingly stopped penning columns that are objective and critical of the sitting government. His focus has been on the political opposition, race relations, the oppressive phase of the PNC regime’s tenure in government, philosophical questions and the so-called depravity of Guyanese culture and society. Most recently, Mr. Eric Phillips had cause to correct Freddie Kissoon about a set of false information on Timbuktu which Mr. Kissoon used his column to peddle. I mean; why? You would think that with his scholarly background and the abundance of research material available in today’s world, that Mr. Kissoon would do his due diligence before penning ignorant and false information. Many journalists, entertainers, print, electronic and digital news media outlets and thought leaders know that controversy sells. Mr. Kissoon is no stranger to controversy and no stranger to many facets about Guyanese politics that most Guyanese are unaware of or never experienced. I do hope to see more well researched, scholarly and unbiased columns from someone I once regarded as a Guyanese hero.
Regards
C. Singh

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