Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to a number of serious allegations levelled against NACTA and internationally reputed pollster and NY licensed teacher Vishnu Bisram by UG lecturer Freddie Kissoon in column captioned ‘Mr Bismuth Bisram in Grenada is due in Guyana’ (KN Jul 10) as well as in a series of other columns and letters published in KN and Stabroek News. Mr Kissoon has made a number of allegations against Bisram and NACTA and we are yet to see any evidence to substantiate them.
The exchange between Mr Kissoon and Mr Bisram is not of much concern to us but Kissoon’s accusations and allegations against the organisation are our business. We don’t take these charges lightly as we wish to maintain the professionalism of the organisation and as such the reason for this intervention in the exchange between the two men.
Mr Kissoon claims NACTA does not exist. That is a falsehood. I am an officer of the organisation and have been designated to respond to his unsubstantiated charges. The organisation has been conducting polls for a number of years now and Mr Kissoon knows that.
Mr Kissoon claims that Mr Bisram does not conduct polls but makes up numbers to create a swing towards a party. The officers of the organisation confronted Mr Bisram about this allegation and he strongly denied it. Mr Bisram maintains that he never slanted any poll “to create a swing” and asked that Mr Kissoon provide the evidence.
We are prepared to discipline Mr Bisram if he engaged in conduct that brought or will bring NACTA into disrepute. Mr Bisram has also agreed to discontinue polling if Mr Kissoon can provide any evidence to back his allegation that he “created swings” in polling or did not conduct polls.
We urge Mr Kissoon to come forward with the evidence to substantiate his serious charge that maligns the integrity of a reputed pollster and respected teacher in NY. We do not think the newspaper should have published the allegation without the proof. NACTA will not pursue any legal action against Mr Kissoon for exposing the evidence that discredits Bisram’s polls. Mr Bisram has also agreed not to pursue any legal action against Mr Kissoon for revealing information in his possession that Bisram “did not conduct surveys” and created “swings.” Mr Bisram has committed to penning a letter to the newspapers in Guyana declaring he will not pursue legal action against Kissoon or the newspapers if Kissoon and the papers can publish the evidence supplied by Kissoon detailing how, when and where Bisram created swings and all other information in his possession that Bisram did not conduct polls.
NACTA wants the information in the public domain since the charges are serious and assures Kissoon he has nothing to fear about a lawsuit. Since Mr Kissoon claims he has the evidence, it should not be a burden to publish it immediately. If we do not see the evidence in the papers two days after this letter is published, we will assume that Mr Kissoon is a bluffer and hope he will do the right thing by apologizing to NACTA and to Mr Bisram.
Let me note that we are not troubled by Mr Kissoon’s research that Mr Bisram is not a teacher, because we know that is horse dung. Mr Bisram has chosen not to put in the public domain who he works for and we respect his privacy.
What we know is that Mr Bisram is the most respected teacher in the Guyanese, if not the Caribbean, community in NY. Every Guyanese community leader knows that to be a fact. We know Mr Bisram is a highly educated teacher in the city with a number of undergraduate and graduate degrees and licensed in several subjects. We know he served as head of the union in his building for five years and deputy head for an additional three years; my brother confirms he often met Bisram at citywide meetings for union reps totalling thousands. Mr Bisram also served as Chairman of the Leadership Council of his building for three years and a member of that exclusive club for nine years and has been re-elected last month for an additional two years. Mr Bisram offers free tutorial service to students after school, and engages in a number of activities to uplift the lives of Caribbean people in NY. In addition, he is a member of several organizations and volunteers his service as a reporter and columnist for ethnic newspapers in NY. We hope Mr Bisram is not offended by the amount of information we have revealed about him. And we urge Mr Kissoon to stop writing falsehoods such as that NACTA does not exist and Bisram is not a teacher.
Yours faithfully,
Vassan Ramnracha
Communication Officer
NACTA