Dear Editor,

I have read the President’s remarks on the denial of ads to the “Stabroek News.” It was one of the lamest explanations I have heard.

I had believed that the President did not know of this but now it is clear that he is directly behind it. This is really tragic for it reveals a vindictive mind and a power drunk attitude similar to the Burnham era, a period I thought was gone forever.

Comparing “Stabroek News” and “Kaieteur News” is like comparing cheese and chalk. Many people who buy the Kaieteur News do so to get gossip or sensational news. The Stabroek News is a much more serious paper.

I believe that Kaieteur News’s circulation passed that of the other papers some time ago and not just recently. Yet it is only now that the ads have stopped. I am convinced that the removal of the ads had nothing to do with circulation.

The President and his people are cleverly using the argument that if this was an attack due to criticism of the government they would not have advertised in Kaieteur News. Kaieteur News’s main critic of the government is Mr. Frederick Kissoon but he is so extreme that no rational person takes him seriously. He is in the category of C.N. Sharma.

I have noticed that because the Kaieteur News is getting all the ads it is saying nothing about the attack on the Stabroek News. This is a big, big mistake. If the attack on the Stabroek News succeeds some excuse will eventually be found to shut up Kaieteur News as well.

This is a dangerous step in a direction that leads to all kinds of other violations of people’s rights.

Yours faithfully,

Samuel Saucho