November 19, 2008, Kaieteur News, Body of knowledge, by Freddie Kissoon,

November 19, 2008, Kaieteur News, Body of knowledge, by Freddie Kissoon, 

We know more about people when we do research on the things that they have said and done in the past. The last two weeks have seen an outpouring of deserved eulogies for David De Caires, who died at a time when he had lots more years to serve the cause of freedom in Guyana.

At a later date, I will write on some of the shortcomings of David’s administration of the Stabroek News, something I have done on more than one occasion on this page and in the letter section of this newspaper.
In the sea of praise for Mr. De Caires, two insightful statements were made. They are important in the sense that they add to the historical debate about who did what in Guyanese history. The first observation is contained in a long tribute by the Stabroek News to its founder.

Readers were told that one of the lowest moments in Mr. De Caires's media career was the hurt he felt when Mrs. Jagan accused him of being part of a conspiracy against the present PPP Government.

The second revelation came from Adam Harris. Harris wrote about a media group that was formed in David’s house in the early nineties when he, Harris, was editor of the Chronicle. It consisted of Harris, De Caires, Mrs. Jagan from Mirror and Father Morrison from the Catholic Standard.

The objective was to ensure that during the election period there was no unprofessional behaviour from the media. According to Harris, a violation occurred by the Mirror and Mrs. Jagan was asked for a retraction. The meeting, called to discuss the Mirror’s transgression, ended without corrective action on Mrs. Jagan part. These kinds of facts on the surface appear insignificant but they add to the body of knowledge that helps us to dissolve the long-held myths countless Guyanese in the age group, 50 and onwards, have locked away in their minds.

One of the frequent encounters I experience from e-mail writers and people in person is why have I become so critical of Dr. Cheddi Jagan. Almost all of these questioners are persons who dislike Forbes Burnham.
I have one standard response – do the research and prove me wrong and I will apologise or maybe stop writing. Dr. David Dabydeen once told me at a party at Moses Nagamootoo's home that he deeply admires Dr. Jagan. I asked how much of Dr. Jagan's long career he was familiar with. This was before Dr. Dabydeen's close friend, Dr. Clem Seecharran wrote his book.

Seecharran's "Sweetening Bitter Sugar" has permanently damaged the image and credibility of Cheddi Jagan. Seecharran assessed Jagan as a man who had to destroy Sir Jock Campbell because Sir Jock was a sympathiser with socialism and was competing with Jagan for the loyalty of sugar workers who really took to the Bookers sugar boss.

The value of the two statements of about Mrs. Jagan is instructive because it dissolves the mask so many Guyanese have worn since the sixties, put on their faces by PPP leaders back then. Who are the real builders and the destroyers of this nation? Think of how David De Caires felt at the psychic level when told that he was in a conspiracy against the Guyana Government by Mrs. Jagan.

The hurt had to be piercing because this man’s paper helped to bring that very PPP Government into being. We all expect that the Chronicle would have violated the sacred covenant agreed to by the four parties in David De Caires’s home because we grew up hearing of how bad and contemptuous was the PNC Government.

Yet, according to Adam Harris, it was the PPP's newspaper that went against the agreed rules at a time when the very PPP was condemning the Chronicle. Was Harris telling the truth? Yes he was. I know about the incident. Father Morrison told me about it and another episode involving Mrs. Jagan.

The second debacle occurred in 1993 after the PPP won the 1992 election. It involved extreme pressure the late Fazil Ali of the Rice Producers’ Association had brought to bear on a Customs and Excise officer to lower the value of businessman’s imported goods to a ridiculous level. This was and this is the PPP – the supposedly good guy who fought the bad guy, the PNC.

The PPP carried out a horrendous strike of 135 days in 1977 to protest Burnham's Sugar Levy. When it came to power in 1992, it kept the levy for twelve years. Not two but twelve years. Even the greatest mind cannot explain that. It was just plain deceptive politics of the worse kind. The story of the PPP goes on.