Guyana stands at a crossroads. Blessed with unimaginable oil wealth, it is also cursed by the enduring influence of two men whose words and actions have poisoned the nation’s soul:;Bharrat Jagdeo, the Vice President and former President, and Freddie Kissoon, the polemicist whose venomous columns have festered in our public discourse for decades. Together, they embody a culture of abuse, alleged corruption, and moral decay that threatens to devour Guyana’s future.
Bharrat Jagdeo’s legacy is written in the blood of the extrajudicial killings that marred his presidency. Under his watch, over 400 African Guyanese men were gunned down by state-linked forces in what human rights groups called a “reign of terror.” The Phantom Squad killings were described as ‘just crime-fighting’ by some, but those killings were a systematic purge, tolerated (if not encouraged) by a leader who turned a blind eye to atrocities while enriching himself.
Today, Jagdeo is allegedly Guyana’s first billionaire, a title earned not through enterprise but through brazen alleged corruption. The international community knows this; Jagdeo’s “Su, Su, yes I know him” will never be forgotten. Yet he remains untouchable, wielding power from behind the throne, his influence dripping like acid into the foundations of our democracy.
Then there is Freddie Kissoon. For over 20 years, his columns have oozed malice, divisiveness, and a peculiar brand of self-righteous spite. Reading Kissoon is like watching a man compulsively scratch at a wound, his lispy rhetoric (mocked even by his detractors) cannot mask the ugliness beneath. He claims to speak truth to power, but his true talent is for sowing hatred, reducing complex national issues to personal vendettas. Guyana’s public discourse is poorer for his presence.
Guyana cannot thrive while these men continue to cast their shadows. Jagdeo’s corruption and Kissoon’s toxicity are not political problems, they are spiritual afflictions. A nation drowning in oil wealth but steeped in moral poverty is a nation doomed.
We must reject their legacy. Demand accountability for the Phantom Squad killings. Follow the money trail of Jagdeo’s billions. Starve Kissoon’s vitriol of the attention it craves. Guyana’s curse is not inevitable, but breaking it requires confronting the rot at the top. The alternative? A future where wealth flows, but decency dies.
