Dear Editor,

I NEVER invited Mr. L. Christopher Ram, to an exchange in the press on the just concluded renaming of the Ogle Airport to E F Correira International Airport. He wrote a letter in Stabroek News, calling on me to answer certain questions, referencing me as former member of the Reform component of the PNCR, in his usual tongue and cheek manner. Was this necessary to do so? This is the same man who complains when cornered and exposed, about being ‘cussed out’ by others. He likes to dish it out but thin-skinned when countered.
Mr. Ram’s tantrums are not new, he was recently publicly chided by no lesser person than retired Justice Patterson, Chairman of the CoI into the Camp Street prison riots, after he walked away from the hearings, because he didn’t get his way.
What is clear from Mr. Ram’s letter in your newspaper today is that Mr. Ram is still nursing his wounds from our exchanges on the legality of any president, including former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s right, to claim exemption and immunity from taxes under Section 66 of Cap. 88:01. This section states: “The President is exempt from TAXATION.”
Mr. Ram was dead wrong in his interpretation. He knows this but is embarrassed to admit same, as he is supposed to be the taxation czar of Guyana.
I do not possess Mr. Ram’s apparent pathological obsession with attacking former President Bharrat Jagdeo. I do not hate anyone and will not hate anyone, even if I do not share their political leanings. Mr. Jagdeo is not my friend, colleague or political associate. I do not hate him or anyone in his party even though I stoutly oppose them.
Mr. Ram asked for me ‘to state and explain the role of President Granger in the context of Article 24 of the Lease Agreement between the Government and OAI’. I provided an answer. He now teases that I don’t know the law. I can only smirk at this and I would not help Mr. Ram to untangle himself from the web that he has spun, by providing any additional information at my disposal.
Research is the hallmark of any student. I am still a student. To successfully complete 4 university degrees and two professional accreditations requires very good research skills. Moreover, a good researcher knows where to look and where to find the answers even if it meant, as I have done in the past, calling Mr. Ram himself. I never expected him to beat his chest about this; it is a sign of great weakness.
Yours faithfully,

Jerome Khan