Dear Editor,
I HAVE been following some interesting exchanges between Joel Bhagwandin, Christopher Ram, and his defender (s). I have noted a letter by one Rishi Pooran who wrote in high praises for Chris Ram as though Ram is some saintly being. The author intimated that Chris Ram has superior qualifications and he is the sole INDEPENDENT authority to speak on issues of finance and macroeconomics.

He then went on to highlight that Mr. Bhagwandin, Ram’s contender, is a paid agent on a government board. May I enlighten the author, though, that it is public knowledge that the very board Mr. Bhagwandin sits on, Ram was a nominee for that very post. He was a nominee for the parliamentary opposition. He was very upset when he did not make it to the shortlist.

There is also a particular news entity that promoted Chris Ram as one the most qualified candidates for some of these posts, truth is, he is not. He is becoming increasingly irrelevant. One wonders, is it because Ram was not the chosen nominee for that board among other posts, he lobbied himself for and didn’t get, that he is now vexatious and now has an anti-government agenda, irrespective of how absurd his arguments may be?

So, Ram may very well be independent, but his modus operandi is certainly questionable and demonstrably suspicious.

Some of these views are supported by some of his former senior employees who reasoned that he is out of touch with contemporary issues in the industry and new accounting standards that he is clearly clueless but presents himself as though he knows it well. This tells me that as good as he may be in his field, he is also a good bluff master as well.

Editor, Mr. Ram is far from saintly. One just has to speak with his students and employees to learn how miserable, and terrible of a person he is. Ram is known to have a track record of intimidating others in the profession, especially young and upcoming professionals (I am not referring to Mr. Bhagwandin here because clearly, he is an exception, where he is brave and fearless enough to take on the mighty Chris Ram).

Chris Ram also has a track record of publicly assassinating the characters of industry professionals for the last two decades.

Ram is very knowledgeable and writes very well. But he’s also very opinionated and holds strong positions on many matters. He tends to use his skills to try to prove himself right and to attack any alternative views. This is not a good recipe for objective commentary and analysis.

Also, if he is a public commentator who is viewed as an authoritative voice in a specific field, then he ought to be able to defend his positions and engage Mr. Bhagwandin – who challenged his view with an alternative analysis.

Editor, I close by encouraging Ram to redeem himself by engaging Mr. Bhagwandin in this very critical topical matter of national importance -and prove himself that he is not an old irrelevant fossil.

Regard,
Dhanpaul B. Rampersaud