Dear Editor,

I AM grateful to Stabroek News for publishing my letter of April 11th, 2018, captioned “Roopnaraine will remain a member of the WPA for as long as he chooses to do so” and for facilitating Frederick Kissoon’s response to it on Thursday, April 12th, 2018. My letter of April 11th was in response to Kissoon’s column in the Kaieteur News, captioned, “Roopnaraine is the most honest activist the WPA produced”.

Editor,notwithstanding the blatant lies, innuendoes and the deliberate misrepresentation of information contained in Kissoon’s letter of April 12, I wish to publicly assure you that it is not my intention, to pursue now or at any time in the future, legal action against your paper for the publication of Kissoon’s scurrilous remarks about me.

I propose in a subsequent letter to address Kissoon’s denial of his referencing of Mr. Moses Nagamootoo as the person whom he had claimed (in his letter detailing his dissatisfaction of his treatment by the then PPP/C government) had approached him to write the ‘Oceans 13 articles’ that were intended to negate the impact of Clive Thomas’ articles on the criminalisation of Guyana by the PPP/C government. Let me say here to Kissoon that my proof “of your covenant with the PPP/C government resides in your utterances that are contained in the letter/column that was published in your name”. I commit here to dig up that letter to expose his dishonesty and the lengths he was and I believe still is, prepared to go, for his mess of pottage.

In his effort to lessen the impact of my uncontestable exposure of his reprehensible behaviour, Kissoon, true to form and not unexpectedly, continued his tirade against me. In doing so, he unashamedly accused a now deceased member of the legal profession, Mr. Mortimer Codette, (who is now incapable of defending himself against his vile accusations) of grave, unethical conduct during the period when he represented me in my legal action against Kissoon. While it may be true that Kissoon had enjoyed a close friendship with Mr. Codette, in the face of the grave allegations he has made against him, Kissoon to my mind, is legally and morally obliged to present irrefutable evidence to support his contention that Codette had acted improperly when he was my attorney in the legal action I had brought against Kissoon. Nothing else will suffice. Kissoon cannot, and must not be allowed to make these wild accusations against other persons and go unpunished, when he fails to support his accusations with the requisite evidence. It is not the first time he has levelled unsubstantiated allegations against some members of the legal fraternity and the public.

I am of the view that Kissoon’s allegations against Mortimer Codette are nothing but a figment of his imagination. Isn’t there a member of the legal fraternity, not one among you, who is concerned enough about Kissoon’s assault on the character of a now deceased member of your fraternity, to at the least, demand from Kissoon production of the evidence of Coddete’s alleged “unethical behaviour”, and, failing his ability to produce the evidence, a public apology from him for what could be considered a grave wrong on Codette’s character?

As far as my knowledge of this matter goes, it never reached the courts for hearing. I am also contending that I was never present in any of the courts in Guyana to deal with this matter. Kissoon wrote, “After the case had been called four times (on each occasion Mr. Ogunseye turned up but not Morty), on the fifth occasion the case was dismissed with a $45,000 cost to me. In an address to the court, I said I would never take a cent from someone like Ogunseye, but I would ask that he donate the money to the family of one of the victims.” This as we used to say in an earlier age is nothing but “Anancy tory”. I call on Kissoon to name the judge who heard the matter and gave the judgement.

The government has stated recently its intention to have commissions of inquiries into the violent killings in the period mentioned in Kissoon’s letter. I hope that Mr. Kissoon will not disappoint the nation, by not taking the stand and under oath reveal his, “incontrovertible evidence” of my doings in Buxton.
In the face of Kissoon’s allegations against me, media houses are free to publicise all of the evidence Kissoon will provide on (a) my doings in Buxton or my connections with gunmen in any part of Guyana in the period he mentioned; and (b) evidence that I appeared before a magistrate or judge in any court in respect to my libel suit against him and the Chronicle.
Regards
Tacuma Ogunseye