I am not going to hide from Winston Jordan because of fear

Jun 03, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – All my editors from the Catholic Standard, Stabroek News and Kaieteur News over a career that is about to reach 34 years have told me umpteen times that you can write about people without getting yourself in trouble. All of them have said stick to the subject, be careful and avoid libel.
I know what libel is. When it comes to certain persons, you go to extreme lengths to be careful. Winston Jordan, former Finance Minister is one of the persons I feel is too quick to see libelous flavour in what you write about him. I am speaking from experience.
When it comes to Mr. Jordan, I send the column to three lawyers. Once they advise me there is not a shred of libelous material, I send off the stuff to the editor. This article here followed that pattern. I will not stop writing on people who participated in the shaping of Guyana because I fear libel writs from them. I believe Guyanese in and out of the land look forward to public intellectuals making sense for them of the complexities of actions in society.
Mr. Jordan has published two long, consecutive letters recently. One in Kaieteur News of May 30, 2022 in reply to a column by Peeping Tom and the other in the Stabroek News of May 31, 2022 as a reaction to an interview the Stabroek News did with Gerry Gouveia. I read both outputs and both of them were written by Mr. Jordan in his capacity as former Finance Minister.
I ask the Guyanese people why I cannot respond to the emanations of a former minister of government in my capacity as an opinion-maker without having the fear that I will be threatened with libel. If I fear such an eventuality then my pen will be silenced in this context.
I am dwelling on one important line of Mr. Jordan’s Kaieteur News missive. Before I do that, I would like to quote a line from Mr. Jordan’s Stabroek News missive: “In this fractious society of ours, one hastens to read anything that recognises the problem and provides credible, workable solutions.” My point on this page since the no-confidence vote (NCV) of December 2018 (and I go on non-stop about it) is that too many times when people write on the problem, they are part of the problem.
Mr. Jordan noted that his response to Gerry Gouveia came about after he read the interview carried under the title, “Catholic Church sees need for national healing amidst divisions.” As soon as our delivery girl dropped off the newspapers and I picked them up and read that article, I immediately sent off my feeling about what was contained in that item.
Please see a published letter by me in the Stabroek News of Monday, May 30, 2022 titled, “I do not see Mr. Latchmansingh as part of any effort to civilise political discourse in Guyana.” The main ingredient in my missive is that those who rise above the fray and pronounce on the problem are part of the problem. This is the psychological, sociological and philosophical mess Guyana has been drowning in since the NCV.
Now for that important line in Mr. Jordan’s Kaieteur News letter that necessitates a reflection by political analysts and political observers. Here is my reflection. He wrote these words, “Whither Guyana!” But I wrote that line for five years when Mr. Jordan was part of the government and was one of the more senior holders of authority in that government.
Anyone that witnessed a government putting 7000 sugar workers out of bread thus affecting 42,000 persons connected to the workers had to write those two words. Anyone who saw how the Chronicle operated after the APNU+AFC got into power had to write those words. Anyone who saw how Mr. Jordan’s party broke with the Carter formula for GECOM chairmanship had to use those two words. Anyone who saw a government that refused to hold elections three months after a successful opposition NCV had to use those words.
I will conclude by telling Mr. Jordan a story I once published on this page. When I was courting my future wife in 1978, we would stop many evenings and have coconut-water at an Indian vendor directly at the junction of North Road and Orange Walk. We came to know the vendor well.
Today, that vendor’s grandchildren operate the business. The business supplied the army with coconut water from the Hoyte government to the Ramotar government. When APNU+AFC came to Guyana, it switched to the African neighbour of the vendor. His grandchild told me that story with tears in his eyes.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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I am not going to hide from Winston Jordan because of fear

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