Dear Editor,
I have seen the editorial in Stabroek News of August 23, which makes interesting reading in betraying the hypocrisy and double standards of the editor. It deals with serious allegations of inappropriate behaviour. It refers to President Jagdeo being cited for “what was felt to be an unwise, even inappropriate friendship with a US based Guyanese Edul Ahmad who, just last week, had an indictment returned against him by a federal grand jury on charges of participating in a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme.”
It is public knowledge that President Jagdeo has never denied his 15 year friendship with Mr Ahmad and has also stated publicly that he never countenanced any act of dishonesty by anyone. What is bothersome and disgusting is that the editor has chosen to continue to bring Mr Ahmad’s problems and associate same with the President, although so much has already been given to Ahmad’s matter. The editor’s slip is showing when he seeks to blame President Jagdeo for “an unwise and inappropriate friendship with Ahmad.” Could the President have known 15 years ago, in 1995-1996 that Mr Ahmad would be charged in 2011?
The perception is that the editor has taken a personal stand in this matter without at the same time telling the Guyanese public that his brother-in-law who is a lawyer in the US has been indicted by the American federal Grand Jury on charges similar to those for which Mr Ahmad is before the court. If all goes well and his brother-in-law is convicted he will be entitled to a term of imprisonment of about 20-25 years.
If the editor is concerned that newspapers should let the public know about serious matters which attract the attention of the courts, especially where the parties to litigation are public figures, he should let us all know about the action between two multi-millionaire brothers who are fighting for financial shares in their family business – that although one of the brothers is dead – that one of the parties is the editor’s father and the other his father’s brother, and that the families of both are still seeking their pound of flesh. A couple hundred more newspapers could be sold if this family matter were serialized in the press as the newspaper is seeking to do with the Ahmad affair.
Would not the editor and Stabroek News be hailed as just and honourable news personnel? Their friends in the Guyana Press Association would hail them as surpassing the Benschops, the Kissoons and the Harris’s.
Yours faithfully,
Nyron Ally
