WRITERS should respect and honour Stabroek News’s late founder David DeCaires and not denigrate the man’s good name. David was an honourable man who had zero tolerance for unprofessional conduct. He was not a friend of the government or happy with some of its actions but he respected its legitimacy and right to govern having been democratically elected from 1992 to present. He was opposed to the undemocratic activities of opponents seeking to destabilise the government. And had he been alive today, he would have been displeased to read how Freddie Kissoon invokes his name to support his (Kissoon’s) daily tirades (calumnies) against people he dislikes.

Regarding DeCaires, Freddie is a hypocrite. Freddie used to be singularly vitriolic in his unjustified attacks on DeCaires and SN. Freddie is now magnanimous in his praises of DeCaries giving the impression that DeCaires was the next best thing to sada (saykay) roti and baigan choka.

Freddie used to attack DeCaires regularly when the man was alive saying how the man ill-treated him and calling the man all kinds of names. Freddie even gave us some cockamamie story about why he left SN as a columnist for Catholic Standard. When DeCaires passed away in Barbados, Freddie was not nice in his comments. Even at the man’s memorial tribute in Guyana, Freddie took a parting shot.

Freddie never had justification to attack David in his columns. DeCaires was a fair, decent man who did not harbour ill feelings towards anyone not even against those who (like Freddie) attacked him. He was a professional who did not want columnists who brought his paper into disrepute by writings fictions and calling them facts or who misrepresented the views of others.

Freddie used to write a weekly column for SN. For unknown reasons, the column was terminated right after Freddie was exposed for his misrepresented claim of being Dr. Kissoon. DeCaires used high standards to edit and publish writings in SN and he did not want people on board that would tarnish the integrity of the paper. He did not permit persona attacks and did not publish contents that could not be verified. DeCaires would not have published most of what Freddie has penned in KN over the last several years.

I should note he rejected several of my pieces and at times suggested that I rewrite certain pieces and avoid attacks on others. So most of the unfounded and unsubstantiated assertions, claims, allegations, falsehoods, etc Freddie pens in KN would not be published in SN. In fact, some of Freddie’s letters were heavily edited when published in SN but published unedited in KN. DeCaires and his successor, Anand Persaud, had zero tolerance for unverified claims. They have been outstanding media people and would not have tolerated Freddie’s hallucinations appearing as informed columns and reports.

I should note when Freddie had a SN column, he praised DeCaires as a freedom fighter and a champion of democracy. When the column was terminated, for Freddie, DeCaires was the worst thing Guyana ever produced. Freddie saw SN as viewed as the worst newspaper and Freddie viewed the editors as unfit to run a newspaper. He had nothing good to say about the man or Anna Benjamin or Persaud. In fact, when a poll I conducted in 2007 showed SN as the most credible newspaper in Guyana, Freddie was livid. He went berserk attacking me and DeCaires calling us all kinds of nasty names.

Now that DeCaires is not around to debunk Freddie’s myths and lies, Freddie is invoking the man’s good name to give credence to his fabrications. But people have seen through Freddie’s hypocrisy.

People know that lies, half-truths, distortions and misrepresentations come from the pen of Freddie. He ought to go by the sobriquet “King Liar” – the title of a calypso. Freddie feels a lie a day will keep him in play but Guyanese are not that gullible to accept his hypocrisy.
VISHNU BISRAM