Dear Editor,
Mr Freddie Kissoon and I have never met formally or ever engaged in serious conversation. I therefore have no preconceived notions of him. When convenient, I sometimes read his columns through which he presumably seeks to contribute to a constructive dialogue on national, relevant issues rather than to engage in an ad hominem and petty private agenda in a public space.
Having enough material to fill five columns per week must surely be a challenge but can never justify journalistic adventurism or quixotic imaginings even from a fertile academic mind.
I therefore cannot understand the his recent publication of details of the recent engagement I had with social activist Mark Benschop and the coincidence of former President Jagdeo and his friends turning up in the public spaces of Roraima Duke Lodge for a cup of coffee. Surely, even to a columnist, relevance counts.
First of all let me say I admire the work Mark Benschop is doing with his Foundation and wish more Guyanese would find ways to help their fellow Guyanese rather than deprecate the efforts of others whose views they do not share.
I respect Mark as a social activist, a doer rather than one of that breed of Guyanese for whom talking is a substitute for action, innuendoes for facts and deprecation of others a means of one’s self-elevation. As is expected, I do not always agree with his views and opinions and in my tête-à-tête with him I questioned him about the defamation he allows to be published on his webpage about me personally. I found his response to me that he is not the one writing the slander rather unconvincing.
In the discussion with Mr Benschop, we discussed the country’s prisons system from our respective positions: he as an inmate for in excess of 5 years and I as Chairman of the Prison Sentence Management Board. Mark quite properly expressed his disappointment that I failed to keep my word to return to see him while he was in prison, a promise I made during a visit which I, as then President of the Chamber of Commerce, made with other private sector officials.
Unfortunately, Mr Benschop ended the discussions at Duke Lodge shortly after the arrival of Mr Jagdeo, indicating that he was no longer comfortable.
I now turn to the more substantive purpose of this letter and to issue a challenge to Mr Kissoon over his persistently false allegations and innuendoes about impropriety or lack of transparency in my group’s acquisition of Duke Lodge from the government. I ask that he provide any scintilla of evidence to challenge the following:
1.That Duke Lodge was put up for public tender in 2007.
2. That the tender was published multiple times in various newspapers.
3. That NICIL hosted a public seminar to brief potential bidders on the bidding process and the details of the technical specifications of the property.
4. That all bidders were notified about the place and time when the tenders would be opened, and were requested to be present.
5. That on the closing date June 29, 2007, nine sealed tenders including one submitted by Roraima Airways Inc were publicly opened in the presence of a representative from the office of the Auditor General.
6. That Roraima Airways Inc’s bid of $140 million was the highest bid, the next highest being $122.5 million.
7. That the Government of Guyana/NICIL took in excess of one year to agree to award the tender and release the property to Roraima Airways Inc on October 23, 2008.
8. That Roraima Airways Inc paid in full the said bid price, financed by a loan from Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited.
Should he provide any evidence of impropriety or lack of transparency (based on fact and not hearsay), I agree to the following:
1. To return possession of Duke Lodge to the Government of Guyana free of cost, and without any compensation or refund of the purchase price, VAT, legal fees and improvement costs incurred in its acquisition.
2. To give him a gratuity of $1 million.
Should he fail to publish such evidence within twenty-eight days, he would:
1. Cease writing of all forms, in all and any form of print, electronic, and cyber media.
2. Publicly apologise to me and the staff of Roraima Airways Inc in all forms of print, electronic and cyber media.
3. Take a one year leave of absence from teaching at the University of Guyana.
4. Relocate to the beautiful mountains of Monkey Mountain and voluntarily teach the children there for calendar year. I will personally fly him there free of cost, and provide free airlift of supplies, once monthly, for the period.
In order to facilitate documentary audits, I will place all relevant documents in the hands of Mr Christopher Ram, the CEO of Ram & McRae, our company’s auditors since 1998. I verily believe that Mr Kissoon has Mr Ram’s contact details.
If he does not, I will be happy to provide these to him. I am also authorizing Ram & McRae to release to Mr Kissoon any information on the tendering process and purchase of Duke Lodge that he may deem necessary. I also have no objection to NICIL releasing any information concerning the tendering process and sale of Duke Lodge.
I make this challenge recognizing that he is in fact the author of similar challenges to others, and importantly, in the sincere hope that he can understand that the long-term survival and success of business depend on integrity and hard work. It is made not to ridicule or embarrass Mr Kissoon or with any animosity towards him.
In case he misses this publication, I am also sending a copy to him directly.
Yours faithfully,
Captain Gerald Richard Gouveia
CEO Roraima Airways
