Dear Editor,
I refer to the Aug 22, 2020 Kaieteur News article, “Walter Ramsahoye, the nature of humans and correcting history” by Freddie Kissoon. Freddie ended his piece by stating that (Dr. Ramsahoye), “After losing his libels, and owing Kaieteur News about a million dollars in cost, (he) Ramsahoye told Lall he will not pay. (And) He didn’t live to pay.”
Editor, I need some clarification from Kaieteur News and Freddie Kissoon because I do recall that Dr. Ramsahoye’s lawsuit for defamation was successful; and the Court of Appeal granted judgment of $15M against publishers of the Kaieteur News, Mohan ‘Glenn’ Lall and against the newspaper following a libel suit filed in 2000.The suit was filed on behalf of Dr. Walter Ramsahoye, a medical practitioner and Neurologist of 32 years, with various degrees. He was represented by Senior Counsel, Rex McKay.
This move to the Court of Appeal was made after the initial $4.5M awarded by Rishi Persaud in the High Court was considered “derisory and a denial of justice having regard to the severity of the libel” by Ramsahoye. Later, The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) upheld the appeal by Glenn Lall and National Media and Publishing Company Limited (Kaieteur News) against the majority decision of the Guyana Court of Appeal to award Dr. Walter Ramsahoye the sum of $15 million as damages for libel.
In the end, what the High Court had awarded was deemed final, that is, the $4.5 M in damages to Dr. Ramsahoye for libel published in Kaieteur News. So either Freddie is forgetful or is manifesting some form of anger, maybe even envy that his belonging is not on the same academic plateau of Dr. Ramsahoye’s. My interest is really in the inaccuracy or at least the misleading nature f the article.
Outside of this, I do think that Freddie Kissoon is overworking and needs help in making his contributions impeccable, as I feel these will be used by students in the future. In terms of typos, I can bypass these, but not Grammar at all. I know that these faux pas in his articles do not reflect his true nature nor his intellect. It is just that he seems to be ‘rushing’ and no editor is there to vet his pieces (not for content, but at least for ‘accuracy of information’ and ‘correctness of grammar.’)
I illustrate: In the Aug 30 article (again in Kaieteur News), “We must never forget those 5 months of 2020”, we read that as Freddie “… was walking (his) dog on Thursday afternoon, (a) young man in an open back pick-up pulled up. He thanked me (Freddie) for my support for democracy during the five-month ordeal we have just passed through. I (Freddie) said to him: “Have you lived through the days of Forbes Burnham?” He said he was born in 1979 so I told him he missed the permanent monarchy of President Forbes Burnham.”
Freddie than briefly explained the nature of Burnham rule and emotionally recounted that what happened on March 4, 2020 with Clairmont Mingo was something all Guyanese who lived through the reign of Burnham had to fight against with every ounce of passion. My Point. Where is the apostrophe? (“…the nature of Burnham rule…”). Who vets articles before they reach the public?
Continue reading: “This was what the reign of Forbes Burnham was like. But the evil in his reign scared you to death when you realized that he was not elected, could not be removed through free and fair election (s) and if fate (had) destined him to live in the nineties, he would (have) dominate (d) Guyana forever. This is why free and fair election(s/are) is phenomenally priceless.
The Aug 28 offering reads that “PNC and AFC are going to kill innocent, poor people next week.” (still reading) “The PNC and AFC are going to file an election petition next week. In a forthcoming column, I will examine the asininity behind that writ since the PNC will have to produce at the trial, the thing that they have hidden since March 4 – the statements of poll (SOPs) which showed it lost the election. Even their partner in crime, the AFC told the media last week, that it never saw the SOPs.”
Please note that the Editor-in-Chief should have picked up tat PNC is being referred to back and forth as it, they, their etc. This is ridiculous. It is gross solecism at work.
In Guyana, we used the British Standard and when a prolific writer like Freddie is so vitiated because of language ignorance, personal incompetence, or simply professional indolence, then some kind of language management must be emphasized.
Regards
Prescodd Mann
