Dear Editor,
In recent months our most popular and respected Guyanese pollster Mr. Vishnu Bisram has digressed from NACTA polling to nancy stories, conjectures, the rewriting of Guyanese history and the supply of basic pieces of unimportant information paraded as letters to the editor.
I find it hard to surmise how Mr. Bisram as a pollster could write on such a wide continuum after continuously providing us with decent poll results to ones where he now writes about his work on behalf of the restoration of democracy in Guyana in conjunction with the then opposition party, the old critics of Dr. Jagan and the positions they now hold in government, the mistakes of Burnham/Guyana/ Caricom, Panday’s Trial in Trinidad to his latest piece in the Stabroek March 22nd issue, ‘Fans take their cricket seriously in India.’ Now this last piece was most surprising for it did not merit one square inch of media print in Guyana when many important social, political and economic discussions are taking place in the media, Mr. Bisram sees it fit to produce a letter which basically substitutes the threat of physical harm, burning of effigies and damage to personal property for ‘fans taking their cricket seriously.’ From that article, simple minds may deduce that the latter and the former are synonymous (they are not) and a respected pollster must be careful of sending the wrong message to younger folks.
Given the above, Mr. Bisram now owes the reading public a follow up article probably entitled, ‘Fans don’t take their cricket seriously in the West Indies,’ for when the West Indies get a walloping, Lara and his boys can still go to a night club and be surrounded by fans willing to buy them drinks while their properties (WI cricket squad) are left unguarded while the firemen and riot police remain in their barracks.
If Mr. Bisram ‘the pollster’ has run out of polls, I have a few for him which could help our policy makers since after nearly forty-one years of independence neither Presidents Burnham, Hoyte, Dr. and Mrs. Jagan, Hinds, nor Jagdeo individually or cumulatively have anything to write home or boast about with regards to achievements. Start by examining local investor confidence; interview a few fishermen, Regent Street stores owners, some East Coast businesses and remember the cane and rice farmers. Don’t forget another poll on governance, and the perception of nepotism and cronyism.
Our pollster could further add to ongoing debates through examining whether Messrs, d’Aguiar, Reis, Yesu and Toolsie Persaud, Boyer, Gafoor, and Correia altogether have done more for Guyana than all post independence governments since some seasoned letter writers and known party supporters keep bombarding the letter pages with the successes of their leader of choice. In my opinion, this is where your work would have its most merit.
On the other hand, if Mr. Bisram wants to go down the road of politics as may be deduced from his recent pieces, let him declare his new status and enter the ring with veteran politicians such as Corbin, Rohee, Alexander, Ramotar et al and not remain behind letter columns since in recent months we have seen more bits and pieces of somewhat partisan information than poll results from our most famous pollster.
Remember Mr. Bisram, it is you who took time out to explain to the public many years ago about NACTA and its work and as such that is how your writings and conclusions will be evaluated.
Yours faithfully,
Adam Lynch
