Dear Editor,
After reading Mrs Jagan’s stinging reprimand in her letter captioned “Bisram must stop gossiping” (08.03.05), I re-read the letter I wrote about stories told to me about corruption in the Cheddi Jagan’s government (08.03.03). I recognize that the “stories” could be considered as rumours or gossip (Mrs Jagan’s description of them) and offensive to the late President’s family and political party, PPP/C. It would have been better for me to state that people felt that the PPP/C government has been drifting away from the Jagans’ (Cheddi and Janet) principles of good, honest governance. I regret writing that stories were told to me that corruption may have helped to trigger Dr Jagan’s demise.
I am happy that Mrs Jagan has cleared the air on this “gossip”. In no way did I mean to suggest that Dr Jagan did not take action against anyone he thought acted improperly as he did indeed fire at least one Minister. And in fact, during his earlier tenure as Premier, he fired Ministers who were not above reproach.
I consider Dr Jagan the most honest politician that ever touched the earth in the same league as Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. In no way did I mean to demean his reputation of incorruptible honesty and integrity. No one can ever point a finger at Dr Jagan and Mrs Jagan for corruption. I have no direct evidence of Ministers of the PPP government being involved in corruption and no solid evidence was ever presented to me by those who sought my attention (to hear their stories or complaints of corruption) whenever I am in Guyana
I want to assure Mrs Jagan I do not engage in gossiping. I am a serious student of politics. My line of work (surveying) takes me in direct contact with people. I do not seek out people to gossip. For whatever reason, they come to me whenever I am in Guyana, Trinidad and even in NY to tell me all kinds of “stories” about ill-governance. Everywhere I went from Corriverton to Charity people told me stories of their experiences with officials who they claimed were/are corrupt. I have no way of verifying their allegations and as such I never mentioned the names of any official whose names were tarred with the corruption brush by their constituents.
As a student of politics, I know that people believe that once you are in government, you are corrupt even if you are the most honest person. From my experiences in conducting surveys, many people believe that the only reason people go into government is “to thief”. I do not subscribe to that view.
But I do know that in politics “perception is reality”. So important officials, like Mrs Jagan, cannot dismiss all “stories” as mere gossip. At some point in time, honest and important politicians like Mrs Jagan and President Jagdeo have got to pay attention to these “gossips”.
I do agree with Mrs Jagan that anyone who has evidence of corruption should go to the police or to the President to deal with offenders. Allegations of corruption are made all the time against some Ministers and other functionaries of government. But as President Jagdeo noted repeatedly in visits to NY, and rightly so, he cannot take actions on mere allegations without irrefutable evidence. Often people allege corruption against officials they don’t like. President Jagdeo cannot act on all complaints of corruption.
However, I do not think all allegations of corruption should be dismissed lightly. The consequences could be detrimental to the PPP and to the nation. I wish to bring an important lesson to the nation’s attention. When I conducted polls in Trinidad during the 1990s, supporters of the then UNC told me stories or “gossip” (Mrs. Jagan’s term) about corruption which I reported in the media. Then Prime Minister Panday responded: “Take the evidence to the police”. And that the people did resulting in the collapse of the UNC government.
In closing, I wish to reiterate that I regret using words that can be construed as demeaning to the integrity of the late Cheddi Jagan’s administration or casting offensive aspersions to former or current PPP Ministers.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
