Guyana ‘free press’ refuse to publish this Balwant Persaud letter

Balwant Persaud - one of the last remaining field negroes still standing in Guyana

Letter to the Editor
I am amused by reading a letter [see below] penned by one Azeem Khan, “PRO of the ERC” threatening Freddie Kissoon, other columnists and Kaieteur News in the Guyana Times newspaper dated 16th January 2011.
I want to ask Mr. Khan if the Ethnic Relations Commission is alive? If it is an independent body free of political interference from the ruling party?

I had filed a complaint against the Director of Public Prosecutions, Shalimar Ali-Hack in June 2010 for religious discrimination and to date there is no result on my complaint although huge documentary evidence were supplied to the ERC to back up my claim for religious discrimination and biasness.
I spoke to the ERC Chairman, Mr. Edghill a few times when I met him at various places and all he can tell me on each occasion is that “we still investigating”.

After interacting with the ERC, I am of the opinion that it is not a genuine organization for protecting citizens against discrimination whether racial or religious but it is just there to fool people that we have a democracy The very person I lodged my complaint against has connections high up in the ERC through her religious organization.
I am asking Mr. Azeem Khan and Mr. Edghill, what is the position of my complaint?
I want a clear cut answer from the ERC, either they give me justice or dismiss my claim, don’t have it hanging. But how can my case be dismissed by the ERC when they have abundance of evidence that I was discriminated against by the DPP and yet they do not want to move against the DPP?
That is their dilemma.
Balwant Persaud

Dear Editor,
I write to inform you that the Ethnic Relations Commission is concerned about the inaccurate statements published in the January 11, 2011 edi tion of your newspaper. It is the view of the commission that the statements in the article are misleading and aims to discredit the ERC and its commissioners.

Reference is made to the article captioned, “ The year the country stood still”, and written by one of your columnists Mr Freddie Kissoon. In that feature, Mr Kissoon said, “ the ERC is a statutory Commission that exists of twelve members.

These twelve members are the ERC. Nothing more nothing less! For two years now the ERC has been three persons – Mr Carvil Duncan, the TUC representative, Mr Peter Willems, the Private Sector delegate and its Chairman Juan Edghill”. The fact is, at no time was there a 12- member ERC. The ERC has seven Constituencies, the three main religions, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Women, Youth, Labour and the Private Sector and even with non- voting members from the Rights Commissions it will never attain 12 members.

Mr Kissoon is fully aware of this, yet he tries in every attempt to mislead the public for his personal satisfaction. The columnist is correct when he reported the he attended more than five meetings of the commission but he deliberately misled the public when he stated that, “ and not even a whisper ever came out of the mouths of the Messrs Duncan and Willems”. ( Example) Mr Kissoon’s recent participation at the ERC was at the ERC/ Private Sector Confab held on Novemeber 18, 2010 in the Conference Room of the Princess International Hotel, of which he admitted his attendance in an article he wrote subsequent to the Confab entitled, “ Drama yesterday at the Princess Hotel”. This article focused entirely on the Confab.

At this Confab, it was Mr John Willems who delivered Welcome and Opening Remarks to the approximately 300 participants.

This presentation was quite thoughtprovoking, frank and very informative. The opening ceremony and morning session was chaired by Mr Carvil Duncan. Mr Kissoon stayed almost to the end of the afternoon session.

The ERC notes that Mr Kissoon’s intention is to cast a cloud over the commission for his personal gain. It is a dangerous thing when a columnist who is under investigation by the ERC for a complaint is seeking to discredit the work and functions of the commission for his benefit rather than waiting on the outcome of the investigations.

If the truth must be told, Freddie’s misrepresentation of the facts is not accidental it is deliberate and designed to create confusion and doubt for his own personal agenda.

The ERC will appreciate a correction of this misleading information and urges Kaieteur News to ensure that there is no re- occurrence of this malicious and discrediting act by Mr Kissoon or any other columnist of the Kaieteur News.

Sincerely, Azeem Khan Public Relations Officer, ERC

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Tags: Azeem Khan, balwant persaud, bharrat jagdeo, freddie kissoon, guyana, guyana times, juan edghill, Shalimar Ali-Hack