Dear Editor,
Let me first start by saying I don’t expect this letter to be carried by the Guyana Chronicle, as the taxpayers’ dependent newspaper has been weaponised against the Guyana Press Association, the independent press and myself. Editor, I’d like to set the record straight in response a “columnist” whose so- called investigative work cannot even rival the fictional Nancy Drew. I’ve watched and read this ‘columnist’ wild imagination, as he placed himself at events and makes claims of having conversations with various Guyanese personalities over the years. It seems that if we are to believe these wild assertions, machinations and I dare say fictitious scenarios, he has been present and accounted for during every major event in Guyana’s post-colonial history except, when our great leaders went to England to seek Guyana’s independence and when Cheddi Jagan assumed leadership of the PPP.
In fact, when you read these columns, you get the sense that he is a jumbie, he deh in Buxton in the crime wave, he talk to dis one and duh one and somebody always call he to tell he a secret. Yes, deh call he to tell he a secret. He got street cred cause he grow up pon Hadfield street and suh.
Editor, this ‘columnist’ is not accountable to me. He is accountable to Guyanese and in his remaining years, he should yearn to be more honest, open and accountable despite who or whom his pay masters are. Editor, this ‘columnist’ referenced an encounter he had with me two years ago while he was at a mall in Georgetown. I remember this day clearly because I not only had to run behind him, but he barely could have defended himself when confronted with facts. First of all, the ‘columnist’, upon seeing me, scampered away. I’ve never seen someone who has committed no crime and, with nothing to hide, run so fast.
I finally caught up with him while he was sitting in his car about to drive off where he was forced to have a conversation with me. I started that conversation by asking how his family was as he had once invited me to his home to do an interview challenging the narrative by the PPP that his house was built by someone else. He had even referenced this interview in his column over the years, asking anyone to ask Nazima what a humble abode he lives in. Again, it is not new that I asked him about his family as GPA had been at the forefront of condemning an attack on him by a now executive member of the PPP who was then convicted of the attack.
Editor, my conversation went like this: confronting this ‘columnist’ about his lies surrounding a GPA statement in 2020. That statement condemned all attacks by politicians and their cohorts on media workers, including the verbal assault on media workers outside of GECOM on a specific day. There, I told him the GPA had to condemn all attacks as reporters were being threatened with rape, cyberbullying online, and had their home addresses posted online in addition to the specific events referenced in our statement.
I also told the ‘columnist’ that he was absent from the frontline of the elections and was wholly out of touch. He was asked to produce the hundreds of pictures he said exists showing reporters attacked, and he is yet to do so. He was then treated to my reading of the ENTIRE GPA statement on the attacks, to which he admitted that he never saw the entire statement but relied on what journalists had told him.
I was happy he brought this up as I had previously contacted reporter Kemol King, who was among the journalists the ‘columnist’ said was physically harmed. King had related that a female journalist nearly had an incident with a female protestor but was not harmed, and there were no physical attacks but threats. This corroborates what GPA had condemned in its statement. I asked King if I could quote him, and he said yes.
After I read the entire statement to the ‘columnist’ and compelled him to call Kemol King on the phone, I initially offered my cell phone so I could put King on speaker but since this ‘columnist’ is known to fictionalize events, I demanded that he call King from his cell phone and put him on speaker. The ‘columnist’ then remarked that his phone could not put a caller on speaker. I told him to give me the number he has for King in his phone and proceeded to call King in front of him. King’s phone rang out. My conversation ended with the ‘columnist’ being confronted about his dishonest approach and lack of evidence on this particular issue before he hastily bolted. Editor, this ‘columnist’ is big and he has sense. He should use that sense and be honest with himself and the public.
Sincerely,
Nazima Raghubir
Journalist