Dear Editor,
Freddie Kissoon, a turncoat from PNC and AFC, has become a sharp defender of Irfaan Ali, Bharrat Jagdeo, and PPP. The Mohamed family funded him for decades, including helping him with his house and bills. He has become a critic of the Mohameds as he gets a new funder in the PPP. I wonder how much he is being paid by PPP, Jagdeo and Irfaan. He frequently attacked Glen Lall since he joined the PPP in 2020. Glenn was his founder for two decades paying a large salary and his bills. He praised Glenn until he came on the payroll of PPP contractors. Is it true he gets $2M a month paid in cash by a government contractor? Has he no shame?
For decades, Freddie fashioned himself as the permanent outsider of Guyanese politics — a fierce critic of PPP (1992 thru 2015) who famously promised to speak truth to power, regardless of the consequences. He attacked Jagan, Janet, Ralph Ramkarran, Jagdeo, Irfaan, other PPP figures. Now he is friendly with Irfaan and Jagdeo. What happens to the truth? He blamed Jagdeo, Irfaan, PPP, for everything that went wrong with him and the country – most of them lies. Jagdeo sued him for libel – a deal was cut to drop the law suit in 2020 when Jagdeo won back government and Freddie’s party lost power. Did the deal include becoming a defender of Jagdeo, Irfaan, and PPP?
Yet, his recent, desperate defense of Irfaan regarding the controversial state farm acquisition exposes a grim truth. The man who once claimed to be the conscience of the working class, poor, farmers has completed his final metamorphosis, transforming from a relentless critic of the PPP into one of its most reliable, uncritical defenders. He finds nothing wrong with PPP. He said there is no corruption. Sheep, other cattle, etc., apparently bought with state resources, found their way to the farm. For Freddie that is not corruption. Freddie is defending officials using state resources for private personal wealth. Is he getting a cut?
Kissoon’s eager rush to justify the President’s farm controversy is a masterclass in intellectual dishonesty. Rather than demanding transparency or questioning the optics of elite state-land distribution in an era of unprecedented national wealth, Kissoon chose to obfuscate. He no longer cares about the poor and farmers. He uses state media to abuse others and defend government officials. His commentary in state media does not serve the public interest; it served as a shield for the ruling PPP class. To watch a former claimed champion of transparency minimize a legitimate national controversy is a betrayal of the very journalistic standards he once claimed to uphold although he never had credibility and has never been a journalist.
This is not an isolated lapse in judgment of Freddie; it is a calculated political realignment for personal gain. He goes where his mouth is fed. Is his daughter still working at Irfaan’s office?
Kissoon once dedicated himself to dismantling PPP policies, highlighting governance flaws, and decrying executive overreach, and bring about accountability. He has become a submissive, hyper-defender of Irfaan, Jagdeo, and PPP. The venom he once reserved for the PPP is now turned exclusively toward anyone who dares to question the current PPP administration. How much additional is he being paid to move from a PPP, Jagdeo and Irfaan critic to a booth licker?
By trading his role as a public watchdog for that of a government praise-singer, singing for supper, Kissoon has compromised whatever little legacy he has.
In Guyana’s highly polarized political landscape, independent, critical voices are essential to keeping power in check. When a prominent analyst shifts so radically from systemic critique to partisan PR, it erodes public trust in independent commentary altogether. Freddie has become a soup drinker. His defense of the farm controversy proves that in the game of Guyanese politics, even the loudest critics have a shelf life and a price.
Yours truly,
Nathan Barton
