‘If hoisted on one’s own petard at least dangle with dignity’

Dear Editor,
“If one finds oneself find hoisted on one’s own petard, then the least one should do, is dangle with dignity” – Old lawyer’s saying.

My attention has again been drawn to most recent outburst of the President of the Republic of Guyana who from underneath the safety of his rapidly deteriorating cloak of immunity, described me as racist. The President based this slanderous and unfounded allegation on the following: “You have a racist in Nigel Hughes…[who said in the court matter] that any Indian who accesses a high position in this country does so only because of their race… a racist!”

No doubt with the pressure of his rapidly approaching involuntary retirement the President’s recollection of the conduct of the case of B Jagdeo v Citizen Kissoon must have been  clouded by the rigours of the campaign.

The case was filed no doubt, on the advice of the President’s Counsel who used his considerable legal talent to secure an early hearing of the matter perilously close to the upcoming election. The only witness called by President Jagdeo’s Counsel to date was the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Presidential Secretariat, who as a witness was the only person required to speak under oath.

In the adversarial system, the defendant’s attorney is merely permitted to ask questions, the accuracy, integrity or otherwise of the responses is purely a matter of witness’ testimony.

No doubt in reading the press reports of the responses provided by Head of the Presidential Secretariat, President Jagdeo assumed that the disclosures made by his witness could only be described as racist. Perhaps an accurate assessment of the policies which the witness was candid enough to reveal.

One can forgive the President for coming to the conclusion that the answers given by his witness were racist, but to attribute the responses of his own witness to Defence Counsel who merely asked the questions, is disturbing, unless of course President Jagdeo assumed that the commonality of heritage between the witness and Defence Counsel meant that they shared the same position on the issue of race.
Ray Charles, that great American singer penned a now famous track “Hit the Road Jack.”  I believe the President is familiar with the rest of the song.

Yours faithfully,
C A Nigel Hughes