Dear Editor,
Since Dr. Vishnu Bisram emerged as a pollster and social and political analyst giving commentary on the country’s politics, I have over time come to respect him as a professional researcher in pursuit of facts to inform public discourse.
His recent letter published in Kaieteur News on 24 August 2019, “AFC has political value”, has caused me to question his professionalism, not because he contends that the AFC has political value since on this point I concur with his view, but not his arguments justifying his position.

My reason for responding to Bisram is to challenge his declaration that WPA has no support. He wrote, “One can literally count the support of the WPA and NDA and the minor parties on two hands”. If Dr. Bisram was not in the business of conducting polls and has a reputation to defend, I would have ignored what he wrote, and treat his remark as politicking – and let it pass. I am taken aback by the disrespect he has shown on this occasion for Guyanese political intelligence by suggesting that all the small parties’ collective support, with the exception of the Justice For All Party (JFP), can be [counted] on two hands. If this is a professional opinion based on Bisram’s “scientific pools” – it speaks volumes.

Even if he had claimed that the membership of these parties could be counted on two hands, that statement would have been ridiculous. One is forced to ponder, why he did not hide his prejudice by saying that, collectively, the WPA and the other smaller parties have no significant support? This view, while inaccurate, and far from the reality, would have covered somewhat his obvious lack of professionalism? I doubt that this gentleman is capable of any self-criticism.
Hence he will have great difficulty to reclaim his creditably.

Regards
Tacuma Ogunseye