Dear Editor,
In a letter on me published in this newspaper on June 2, Lincoln Lewis wrote: “It is becoming more evident that Kissoon is behind the confusion in the University of Guyana (UG) industrial environment. His agenda is to create turmoil and upheaval in this country.”
When the facts are given to readers, Lewis’ betrayal of priceless trade union principles will be further on show. I start this response to him by reference to a telephone call I received on Thursday night from the Vice President of the TUC, Eon Andrews. Mr. Andrews offered endorsement of my condemnations of Lewis’s violations and enumerated examples of Lewis’s twisted rule in the TUC.
I cut Andrews short by telling him, I am not prepared to listen further; the right thing for him to do is to inform the Guyanese people by exposing Lewis. He promised to write to the media. I told Andrews that Lewis continues in his ways the past 25 years in the TUC because successive TUC presidents complained privately but did nothing.
I start this response by reference to his allegation that I insulted his wife. I never did and never will. I merely mentioned that Lewis is hell bent against immigrants coming here to take our oil wealth (his words) when most Guyanese have close family members who are immigrants in other countries including Lewis’ wife. Over the past 25 years, Lewis’ wife, Minette Bacchus, has been writing letters to the press in which she pens very critical things about those she attacks. I have not engaged her.
I can remember only once engaging her when she vehemently denounced me for stating Burnham’s role in the assassination of Walter Rodney. That was my last response to her. My policy is not to reply to her letters.
Now for a response to Lewis’s words quoted above. This is a sick ignorance. I have no connection or relation with UG since my contract was terminated in January 2012. I cannot recall the last day I was at UG. Most of the main players in the academic union, UGSSA, I do not know. I have spoken to and met Dr. Jewel Thomas, the president of UGSSA, twice in my life. I have not seen or spoken with Dr. Patsy Francis since 2012. I cannot recall ever having a conversation with Sherwood Lowe about anything in Guyana or at UG. I saw Dr. Melissa Ifill last month at Giftland Mall. Prior to that, it must have been a year since I met and talked to her.
It is a morbid insult to these key players in the union for Lewis to state that I am behind the confusion at UG. Two reasons explain this. One is his choice of word, “confusion.” A serious industrial dispute is deemed “confusion.” The second is that he assaults the dignity of top class UG academics by asserting that they are puppets of Freddie Kissoon. Lewis will get away with his sick emanations because the unions will not confront him.
If one reads all the ruminations of Lewis on the UG industrial dispute (not confusion), you will find he obfuscates the accusations made against him by the unions by making me the focus of attention in the crisis at UG. He will keep doing this because his credibility is damaged. He has been exposed by the UG unions for betraying workers and being in league with persons who are crushing the functionalism of UG. He even falsely stated that the UGSSA has not gotten a certification of registration.
Lewis is damaged goods. No longer can he run around Guyana making himself a preacher of democracy. What is taking place at UG in the governance structure constitutes some of the worst moments in the history of UG. Lewis and Ivor English are open defenders of this type of backwardness
Finally, I was at the National Park on May Day when in his address, Lewis denounced the no-confidence vote (NCV) in parliament boldly proclaiming that 44 votes should be required to pass an NCV. As he continues to reply, I will offer more evidence of his destruction of trade unionism in this country, some of which should long have been publicized.
Yours faithfully,
Frederick Kissoon
