Ms. SHEILA Holder, M.P of the AFC, leveled a serious allegation against me and Trinidad pollster Ramsamooch (sic) claiming we are engaged in “fictitious polling for Indian-based parties”. Holder maintains that she had this discussion with panel members at a meet funded by the OAS and hosted by Miami International Univ. She offered no evidence to substantiate her allegation and she herself said no proof was provided at the Miami meet to give credence to the charge.

Since her allegation surfaced about two weeks ago, four months after she claimed it happened, the OAS Secretary General, in a written memo, denied such discussion took place. Ramdin was backed by Professors Ramesh Deosaran and Peter Wickham, both from UWI, and who were also panelists at the meeting. All three said no discussion took place on Ramsamooch (sic) and myself.

In light of the fact that there were denials and repudiations from three credible individuals, two of whom were eyewitnesses, it is only appropriate that Ms. Holder offers a retraction and an apology to the pollsters whose reputation have been tarnished by her unfounded and baseless allegation.

I wish to point out that I have never conducted a poll for any Indian-based party and was never involved in any fictitious poll. I spoke with Ramsamooch and he told me he does not conduct polls for Indian-based parties and also does not know what is meant by a fictitious poll. I too don’t know what is meant by a fictitious poll. Perhaps Ms. Holder can define a fictitious poll and tell us whether the polls conducted by Dick Morris and commissioned by her and colleagues fall under her definition of a fictitious poll. Just to remind Ms. Holder, Morris’s poll projected the AFC heading for a victory in the 2006 elections. The party won 10% of the votes. NACTA projected 51% for PPP and the party won 57%.

Ms. Holder is a member of parliament and must be held to a higher standard than say a columnist engaged in gossiping. She ought not to utter remarks that cannot be supported by solid evidence. An apology and a retraction are appropriate remedies when one errs.
VISHNU BISRAM