President Jagdeo has received many outstanding accolades

TIMES INT'L

Dear Editor,

I am in perpetual amusement with columnist Freddie Kissoon. He invokes a Shakespearean quote, and with it seeks to depreciate President Jagdeo. Here is how he puts it:

“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more.” So Freddie Kissoon thinks that “… no quote can be more appropriate in analyzing the career of the outgoing president of this country.” According to the bile-filled ‘composition writer’, “Mr. Jagdeo is looking for his moment on the international stage.”

I find this last sentence to be so stupid. I ask Mr ‘primary school’ analyst to explain the import of the following accolades that have already been bestowed on Mr Jagdeo. I am sure that these four will suffice for my debunking of Mr. Kissoon.

1. 2004 – Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee conferred on Jagdeo the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award for life’s achievement and contribution to the Indian Diaspora. This is the highest award conferred on overseas Indians.

2. In 2007, Jagdeo received the Russian medal of Pushkin

3. He was conferred the Champion of the Earth award in 2010.

4. The People’s Friendship University conferred on Jagdeo an honorary doctorate in 2010 I ask if this is merely parochial. I hope that Mr Kissoon will also do some research regarding any Caribbean and South American president who has so challenged and moved the international community. It is really ‘cutting Kissoon to the quick’, and so he pours out his vitriolic wrath. However, President Jagdeo remains impervious, and I get the impression that Freddie Kissoon is beneath the president’s contempt. Thank God.

As an avid reader of the dailies in Guyana, I personally find that Freddie Kissoon is myopic, biased and superficial. He makes a lot of noise and is now bequeathed with a national “bête noire.” Does he deserve it? You bet he does!

Sincerely yours,

Ibrahim Bin Jabbar

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