My feet are firmly placed in the political dynamic to ‘Change Guyana’

Dear Editor,

The article written by Freddie Kissoon in Kaieteur News dated December 23, 2019 and captioned “Some Small Political Parties are Reckless”, where Mr. Kissoon throws up dust-clouds that might scare away the faint hearted, as he writes “Hinds is susceptible to devastating political critiques from his PPP and PNC detractors.”
I only have friends in the PPP and PNC; political differences and critiques are par for the course and will not make us enemies; I cannot control things external to myself.

Mr. Kissoon further wrote, “This columnist has documents on serious political mistakes that if released could embarrass him.”
When a columnist frequently uses his public platform to cast character aspersions, about having personal emails with harmful content, refer to having documents of embarrassing political mistakes of someone; that columnist is implicitly and creatively disparaging that person and telling the public not to support the individual, and it has the same impact as disclosing the purported embarrassing political mistakes, whether it exists or not.

And there is no difference between claiming to have harmful documents about someone and damaging someone’s reputation using falsehoods.
Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels said: “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.”

The leadership of Kaieteur News in denying the individual his right to respond to such claims made by one of their columnists are condoning and acting as enablers of the mudslinging claims that Mr. Kissoon often makes.
It may be that Freddie is part of Kaieteur News editorial leadership, if this is the case, then one may be able to rationalise the protection he enjoys from Kaieteur News to write in an irresponsible manner.

I herein encourage Freddie to release the actual documents for the public to judge and juxtapose the negative perception he has artificially created of me via his references to the claimed documents in his possession.

I certainly don’t need an umbrella body to shield me from political critiques; as Bob Marley sang “Don’t jump into the water if you cannot swim”.
My feet are firmly placed in the political dynamic of Guyana and have been since the death of our martyr Walter Rodney, when I was fourteen years of age. My first vote in Guyana was for Dr. Rodney’s party, the Working People’s Alliance.

Freddie in Nostradamus style concluded that I am susceptible to political critiques from PPP and PNC detractors. Understanding that it is no easy task to write columns on a daily basis, there is no reason that the writings have to be so often filled with negativity, vitriol and malice.
What if I’m criticised, it will not cause my courage to wither! What if I have made mistakes, has anyone not made mistakes?Each day is an opportunity to learn and do good and honourable things.

In reference to the caption of the article that “Some Small Political Parties are Reckless”; I infer that Freddie has editorial control over the headlines for his ruminations and I’m sure many readers will recognise that the headline is unauthenticated for the New Parties.
The recklessness Freddie refers to is likely his own.

Change Guyana is not averse to working with the new parties, we believe the psychological, physical and political impact of an inclusive new political force could act as an honest broker under the right leadership, working for the best interest of Guyanese at the legislative, economic, social and cultural levels of our society, and remove the racial yoke of division and disunity that has kept our country pinned in underdevelopment and high levels of poverty.

Change Guyana has positioned Robert Badal as their Presidential Candidate, someone with vast business success, mental acuity, intricate knowledge of our major economic industries and the need to significantly improve our social services, with the wherewithal to attract investors and accelerate improvement in the quality of life for Guyanese, using incentives and private industry.

For myself, I feel no entitlement to any position, only knowing I act with the certainty that my sense of giving and sharing the blessings I have received from Guyana, has indebted me to my fellow Guyanese and I will continue to show my gratitude as providence dictates and in whatever capacity fortune allows.
Knowing Freddie’s convenient appreciation for the power of philosophy, I will end my response with these thoughts from Seneca the Great Roman Philosopher:

“No prize fighter can go with high spirits into the strife if he has never been beaten black and blue; the only contestant who can confidently enter the lists is the man who has seen his own blood, who has felt his teeth rattle beneath his opponent’s fist, who has been tripped and felt the full force of his adversary’s charge, who has been downed in body but not in spirit, one who, as often as he falls, rises again with greater defiance than ever.”

Nigel Hinds