Guyana Observer News

Mrs. Holder continues to misrepresent what happened at that ERC meeting

Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Dear Editor,

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A letter by Ms. Sheila Holder in the July 20 edition of KN missed me. It was this weekend, someone asked me about it. I read it and here is my reply.
It was the second correspondence of Ms. Holder on her silence at the recent ERC’s meeting with stakeholders. I replied to her first explanation. Her second is fraught with troubling moments. I would suggest to Raphael Trotman and Khemraj Ramjattan to vet what Mrs. Holder writes in the interest of the electoral prospects of the AFC. Mrs. Holder conceptualization of what political obligations are is highly flawed Let us quote the extreme weak points in her second attempt to justify her lack of political commitment to fundamental principles of politics. Here is Mrs. Holder in her words; “I have a duty to persuade people to learn to fish and think for themselves; not to give them fish by telling them what was good for them as Mr. Kissoon wanted me to do.” This is incredibly flawed thinking coming from within the leadership of the AFC. Mrs. Holder continues to misrepresent what happened at that ERC meeting. Her convenient memory is worrying

At the beginning of the meeting, Juan Edghill asked the media to leave. I objected to that. So did Parliamentarian Everall Franklyn, Coretta Mc Donald of the TUC and the TUF representative (who later chimed in). What is this talk of Mrs. Holder of me trying to tell people what to do? The three of us objected to a violation of a human right. In her second letter she omitted those two names. Like Mrs. Holder, Franklyn is a parliamentarian and a politician but perhaps he understands his political obligations more than Mrs. Holder does hers. I never sought to get Mrs. Holder and those present in the room to do what I wanted them to do. All I did and I hope Mrs. Holder reads this line over and over again – I spoke my mind on a question of democracy Edghill had no locus standi to ask the press to leave. Mrs. Holder does not deal with that point of mine which was carried in my first reply to her
In what has to be a huge moment of lapse, here is what Mrs. Holder wrote; “If the stakeholders had supported Mr. Kissoon’s position why did they not advocate for the retention of the media.” Maybe they were looking for Mrs. Holder to perform her “duty to persuade people to learn to fish and think for themselves.” Where was that duty to persuade people? Who knows if Mrs. Holder had joined me, Franklyn, Mc Donald and the TUF delegate, our numbers would increased and the other stakeholders might have come around. In another time, I will ask Mrs. Holder to explain what persuasion is and how its works. But this I know, silence is the opposite of persuasion
Here is another quote from Mrs. Holder, and again the AFC leadership needs to sit down with her and advise her about her perceptions. “Without intending to be disparaging, the difference between my approach and that of Mr. Kissoon is in providing space for civil society to advocate on their own behalf the “change” they desire. I don’t know what got into Mrs. Holder head to write those lines but it is misplaced chauvinism while at the same time a poor attempt to obfuscate the surrender of the duty and obligation she so writes about in this particular letter.
Why Mrs. Holder thinks I do not want civil society to act on their own behalf? If getting people to demonstrate and go on a picket line and asking them to denounce wrong-doing is tantamount to leading them, well I say to Mrs. Holder that I have no apologies to make for such a type of action. And I will never see it any other way
I take it Mrs. Holder as a parliamentarian has an obligation to speak out against human rights violations. That instinct should be separated from one political itinerary. I insist that what Edghill did was wrong and those in Guyana who fight against wrong-doing had a right to chastise Edghill. Parliamentarian Franklyn did. But it would appear from Mrs. Holder second’s letter, her approach is a superior one to Franklyn. I would strongly advise Mrs. Holder to be careful what she writes. She is causing embarrassment to the AFC, a party I voted for the last time and may vote for again
Frederick Kissoon

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