Dear Editor,
Permit me to respond to Mr Clairmont Lye’s letter published in Stabroek News on Thursday, June 23, captioned ‘Mr Ogunseye should get the facts from Dr Thomas.’
With due respect to Mr Lye, he is within his rights to seek to defend Dr Jagan. However, he is old enough to know that there are some things you cannot defend with any degree of credibility. The issue of the late President Jagan’s withdrawal of the ministerial offer to Dr Clive Thomas is one such matter.
Mr Lye should know that it is not my style to loosely engage in public polemics. He is fully aware that in the period under discussion, I was a member of the WPA Executive Committee. As such, there is no need for me to speak to Dr Thomas as he suggests, since I was present and privy to the report to the WPA’s Executive Committee by the delegation which met with Dr Luncheon at the time he, Dr Luncheon, conveyed Dr Jagan’s position of the withdrawal of the offer to Dr Thomas.
In my letter I made reference to Dr Luncheon and made the point that he is in a position to challenge the accuracy of what I had said. I am sure that if Mr Lye had taken the time to discuss the matter with Dr Luncheon he would not have offered the suggestion he made in his letter. These are old matters and we need to set the record straight in the interest of the nation‘s history. That is why those of us who know are better placed to speak on the issues.
Yours faithfully,
Tacuma Ogunseye
