Dear Editor,
I write in relation to the two most recent letters by Mr. Freddie Kissoon in the Stabroek News. In his letter of August 10, 2008 he wrote “The low placement of Mr. Ramkarran at the congress gave the whole thing away. I believe Ramkarran’s votes were tampered with… he definitely could not have placed 22 on the list for the central committee. This could not have been”.
On August 12, just two days later, he writes “…I am beginning to rethink my belief that the votes for Mr Ramkarran were rearranged. From talking to certain people in the PPP that I trust, it does not appear that Mr. Ramkarran was a popular option for 2011.
When I wrote my letter to the Stabroek (August 10), I was not in possession of information that I received on Sunday morning about delegates attitude to Mr Ramkarran”.
A cynic would note that when Mr Kissoon rethought his position for the second letter, the phrase “tampered with” was changed to “rearranged”. What is more important and dangerous however, is the misinformation that was communicated in the first letter, something that is directly due to Mr Kissoon’s tardiness in doing his homework. When such misinformation in his first letter has the potential to damage reputations, why did Mr. Kissoon not consult his contacts in the PPP before writing so forcefully about vote tampering?
As well, one wonders why the second letter could not have been a straightforward “mea culpa”. Instead of directly admitting to being wrong in the first instance, Mr Kissoon chose to do so indirectly by responding to a Stabroek News item.
In this August 12 letter, he provided extensive background information on Mr. Ramkarran then faulted the Stabroek News reporter for not asking a question of Mr Ramkarran and went on to pontificate to reporters on “standard procedure in journalism”. In view of the tardiness noted above and the incorrect analysis and conclusion (which he is now rethinking) based on all the facts he had on Mr Ramkarran, Mr Kissoon cannot be serious about standard procedure in journalism.
Yours faithfully,
Harry Hergash
