On Wednesday Guyana observed its independence from colonial rule, so we should be the architects of our own destiny.  Sadly, our maturity as a nation seems to be lacking, to the extent that uncivilised, criminal, even murderous actions seem quite acceptable to some persons within society, even those in leadership roles, if it suits their purposes.
The recent attack on Kaieteur News columnist, Freddie Kissoon, should be condemned in the strongest terms; but over the decades of his writing he has hurt and angered so many persons with his most often unjustified criticisms and personal attacks; that most likely someone’s pain and anger spilled out in unarguably a very deplorable means of retaliation.  However, Kissoon and his supporters are covertly and overtly accusing the government of orchestrating the act, and the President of complicity – a serious charge indeed, even if by imputation.
For decades there has been a continuum of accusations against Mr. C.N. Sharma, a presidential candidate, of child molestation and child rapes.  Recently, through a series of believable events, a child came forward with some damning accusations against Mr. Sharma. Whether these accusations have validity and Mr. Sharma is indeed a paedophile preying on vulnerable children has to be decided through the legal processes.
Recently, Nicole Ming, a tenant of another Presidential aspirant, former CEO of the AFC party, Peter Ramsaroop, claimed that Ramsaroop had installed cameras in her apartment to spy on and/or record her.  She correctly made a report to the police, who conducted a search and found three covert cameras hidden in strategic locations whereby Ms Ming’s every movement could be observed.  When faced with these accusations, Ramsaroop, in an initial statement he made to the police, acknowledged the existence of the cameras, but claimed that Ms Ming’s apartment was formerly used as an office and that he had not had a chance to remove all the cameras.  Now this is a tiny space so, if Mr. Ramsaroop is to be believed, how many cameras were there in the first place?
About Mr. Ramsaroop’s presence in Ms Ming’s apartment he had several explanations; the last unlikely one is that she allowed someone to tap his phone lines.  She contends that he requested entry into her apartment prior to her discovery of the cameras on the basis of his claim of faulty electrical wiring.
Now this is a simple teenager being accused of being a Mata Hari.  She said that the clock was not working so she replaced the batteries.  At that time she found no camera in the clock, but that was where one of the cameras was found when the police searched the apartment.  Since then Ramsaroop has changed his version several times over of the source of the cameras, the intent behind the installation; and finally with the accusation that he was a victim of political motivation, which is being supported by the leadership of the opposition parties – vociferously so by the AFC, and even rights groups, who ostensibly champion the vulnerable in society.  Peter Ramsaroop’s own son contends that Ramsaroop senior is capable of such actions if one is to judge from his track record.
The private media houses have published a letter signed by Eusi Kwayana, Nigel Westmaas, Andaiye, Moses Bhagwan, Sase Omo, Alissa Trotz, David Hinds, Karen de Souza, whereby they blame the attack on Kissoon on a “culture of intolerance cultivated by the ruling Party.”  They state that they stand in solidarity with Freddie Kissoon.
There have been the vilest accusations, most unjustified and spurious, levelled against the government, the ruling Party and the President; yet if one of these parties – especially the President, attempt to express their anger, publicly or privately, at these unjust accusations and explain the facts as apposite to innuendoes and accusations without merit they are further vilified by the opposition collective and called intolerant.
This latest outright accusation against the ruling Party, with not a shred of evidence to indicate their involvement or complicity, is the latest salvo in a continuum of unwarranted charges laid directly on the administrative body of this country.
Not one of these vociferous bodies defending CN Sharma and Peter Ramsaroop have supported the alleged victims of these undoubtedly powerful men.  Instead by their very defence of these men they have destroyed their credibility forever.
In the Kaieteur News of Monday 24th May Kissoon wrote: “In Guyana, the pattern is to find 19-year-old girls still living with their parents.” Alluding to Ms Ming he wrote: “…she is one in a million when it comes to that behavioural pattern.”  This is such a slap in the face of those thousands of young women pursuing an education and/or holding jobs away from their parental communities.
In defence of Ramsaroop, Kissoon continued his tirade against the hapless young woman.  He further wrote: “Why would someone make a police complaint against a prominent citizen, have the police investigate him, and then demand that she would not face the camera?”
It is Ms Ming’s right to seek police intervention when she felt that her privacy was being violated in the most horrendous way:  and this is a young girl who probably did not realise the repercussions of trying to get justice when the perpetrator is, in Kissoon’s words, “a prominent citizen.”  He created a circus where she became a public performer, and while Kissoon, Ramsaroop, et al would enjoy the publicity, this notoriety would hurt the character of a young woman, who was made a victim once again with public disclosures and criticism of her private life and actions by Ramsaroop and his supporters.  It is like a rapist saying that his victim invited his attack because of the way she was dressed.
Kissoon questions why Ming reported to the police her suspicion that she was being recorded when she saw the pinpoint of a flashing light despite her being a friend of Ramsaroop’s girlfriend.  That is tantamount to telling a child, whose mother is living with her molester, that her relationship with her mother precludes her from the right of reporting her abuse by her stepfather.
While one condemns the attack on Kissoon, the muck thrown at him from a bucket could be washed off with disinfectant and water; but what about the muck he has thrown at the character of a young woman, who is suffering psychologically from the fear of being recorded on camera in her most private and intimate moments by someone she now considers a voyeur?
The victims of these “prominent citizens” are voiceless and vulnerable, and when they seek recourse to the law of the land for protection and justice they are further vilified, victimised and traumatised by the “prominent citizens” of the land, who bond together in fraternity, with the ruling Party and the President becoming the scapegoats of their nefarious and even criminal actions.