ALLOW me to respond to the article by Neil Marks ‘Facebooking President Jagdeo’ in the Kaieteur News of January 6, 2009.

It is obvious that Neil Marks has a lot of time on his hand and nothing to do with it so he clutches at issues that are not his concern in an effort to gain cheap publicity or keep his name in the public’s memory.

Whether the decision to involve the law enforcement agencies in addressing the impersonation of President Jagdeo on Facebook was made by the President or his Public Relations office is not the issue. The issue is that someone took it upon him/herself to create a profile impersonating the President. This in my estimation is a violation of a person’s right to choose; in this case it is whether or not they want to have a Facebook profile.

If President Jagdeo wanted a Facebook profile I am certain he would have had his office do his profiling. So if he does not wish to have a Facebook profile and someone chooses to create one and use it as if it’s him, he has the right to be offended.

For someone in the media who I would assume knows the consequences of misrepresenting or misquoting someone, Neil Marks seems to be advocating that very course of action.

This impersonation of President Jagdeo is tantamount to fraud and should be treated as such.

The issue of President Jagdeo encouraging young Guyanese to promote Guyana using Facebook is also irrelevant to the fact that there is an impostor of the President out there that needs to be reigned in.

People should not be allowed to think that it is acceptable for them to impersonate a person because he is a public figure.
This needs to be stopped.
MARCIA DEFREITAS