I return to this issue of Freddie Kissoon seeking to misrepresent my words in his penchant for attention. His article of 15th January 2023, “Guyana, the country with the world’s largest Diaspora,” was brought to my attention because of what he said about me.
In his poor attempt to speak to the issue of migration, whether it be Guyanese leaving or Guyana seeing an influx of migrants, he plunged into a discourse with his feet and forgot his brains somewhere. This has become a pattern of the man, growing in intensity, and now a national disgrace given that he hides behind the façade he is an academic and taught at the nation’s premier institution of learning.
He quotes me saying: – “Unplanned immigration brings with it consequences such as stress on the education and health services, housing overrun, the creation of slums, and our resources exploited by others willing to undersell their labour. We also face a crisis of submerging our culture further. This threat comes from others who do not speak our language and share a common culture… we also face a crisis of submerging our culture… we are facing a pending catastrophe which we must seek to avoid at all cost.”
The excerpt is an extraction from an article in my column, ‘Eye on Guyana with Lincoln Lewis,’ titled, “They are coming…are we prepared?” (April 7, 2019).
Any child preparing for the Common Entrance Exams (NGSA), who is given Freddie’s article by his English teacher to do a Comprehensive Review would be unable to, because the article doesn’t make sense.
If I am speaking to unplanned immigration, how is God’s name could Kissoon seek to compare this to a statement purportedly made by Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir that “We must make it harder for people to become citizens.”
If Kissoon desires an intelligent discourse on immigration and wants to insert my contribution on the topic, which I am not opposed to given it’s a matter of national import, he must rise above his penchant for the primordial instinct in going low, by intelligently refuting the arguments I have advanced. It is not sufficient to quote me or seek to hide behind me, thinking the world would not see through his inability to grapple with complex issues and contribute intelligently.
And what has become a characteristic of his failure, he always attempts to deflect by getting personal and hiding behind the unnecessary. He revels in going after people’s families, an issue that has no bearing on the subject matter. Further, it is a treatment he would not like to be meted out to his wife and daughter whose privacy he guards zealously.
Kissoon needs to know the failure of persons to treat with him in like manner is not because they cannot go into the gutter with him and deal with him; it is because persons respect themselves that in conversations about public officials there is a universal principle that one’s family is off limit, particularly if the family has committed no infraction.
And whereas my wife is capable of meeting Freddie head on and dealing with his grungy behaviour, I am not sure his wife can withstand any onslaught on her personality or character and that of their young adult child who is well known around the place. I caution Kissoon to think twice before he commits this attack again.
The unacceptable behaviour of his, while allowed ventilation through different media, only highlights the debauchery of the man’s mind, how low he will stoop, and his inability to represent issues in coherent, logical and cogent manner. Kissoon is a man of nasty character and as time goes by I am beginning to have more appreciation why the “miasmic mess” was thrown in his face by those representing the current regime.
If Kissoon has a problem with unplanned immigration he only has to look to see what is happening at the United States of America southern border, and the concerns and challenges pose for this type of migration.
Persons desirous of knowing my views on unplanned immigration and the importance of the nation moving to a structured immigration policy to avoid repercussions could read here: https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2019/04/07/they-are-comingare-we-prepared/
