President's Office official a no-show in Jagdeo v Kissoon libel case

From: Kaieteur News.Written by Denis Scott Chabrol    Monday, 05 March 2012 14:55

The volumes of Kaieteur News in the High Court room in January. They were later rejected by Justice Reynolds, usable only if there was "greater particularity"

An Office of the President witness in the libel case between former President, Bharrat Jagdeo and newspaper columnist, Freddie Kissoon failed to show up in court on Monday and the defence lawyers were awarded costs totaling GUY$40,000.

Defence Lawyer, Nigel Hughes also signaled that if the witness does not appear in court on April 16 at 9:30 AM, he would request that Jagdeo’s lawyer, Senior Counsel Bernard Dos Santos closes his case.

Back on January 27,2011 Dos Santos had gotten Office of the President, Media Officer Rawle  Kissoon to tender several binders of Kaieteur News editions from June 2012 to January 2012. The plaintiff’s lawyer, in his quest for exemplary damages, wants to lead evidence to show that Frederick Kissoon had a “morbid obsession” with maligning Jagdeo before and during the lawsuit.

Justice Brassington Reynolds upheld the application by Hughes and awarded costs of GUY$20,000 each to him (Hughes) and fellow Attorney-at-Law, Christopher Ram.

The High Court, however, expressed his “displeasure” at the failure of the witness to appear after Dos Santos told the court that he surmised that the man might be ill.

“I have not had personal contact with him or his employer. Mr. Kissoon has not shown up for work today and I am unable to account for his whereabouts,” Dos Santos told the court.

Hughes noted that Dos Santos could not say definitively whether the Office of the President functionary’s purported illness was “grounded in reality.”

After Hughes applied for cost, Dos Santos conceded that “I find myself with my back against the ropes, so to speak.” Justice Reynolds, in awarding the costs, noted that there was precedent for doing so.

Justice Reynolds on January 30 refused to admit several volumes of Kaieteur News newspapers into evidence for exemplary damages in the Bharrat Jagdeo versus Freddie Kissoon libel case, saying that it would be too tedious and there were no specific instances cited. The Judge has said that it was not for him to go through the dozens of newspapers but rather it was the lawyers who should furnish sufficient actions contained to prove malice in a manner concerned.

Jagdeo filed the case against newspaper columnist and academic, Freddie Kissoon, Kaieteur News Editor Adam Harris and the newspaper’s publisher, Glen Lall, claiming more than GUY$10 million in damages.

Jagdeo believes that he was libeled in a Kissoon article titled , ‘King Kong sent his goons to disrupt the Conference’, which refers to the Guyanese leader as an ideological racist. In the article published on June 28, 2010, Kissoon was alluding to the near-break up of the annual historical conference at the National Library by persons who had heckled pro-government sentiments when he was about to deliver his presentation.

APNU CONDEMNS THE SACKING OF UNIVERSITY LECTURER

A Partnership for National Unity has condemned the termination of the contract of outspoken political scientist and newspaper columnist Frederick Kissoon with the University of Guyana. APNU regards the action as a violation of academic freedom and press freedom.

The People’s Progressive Party Civic administration used its voting power on the UG Council to terminate the lecturer’s contract in the middle of an academic year, a few months before it would have come up for review. APNU regards this recent act as a violation of Kissoon’s right to freedom of expression as a columnist, academic freedom as a lecturer and civil rights as a citizen. 

APNU said that this move has come at a time when the University of Guyana is already in crisis and has been finding it difficult to attract lecturers in several academic departments. The Partnership said that Mr. Kissoon has a natural right to be informed of the reasons for the termination of his contract and called for the lecturer’s re-instatement.

APNU has closely monitored the PPPC’s hostile attitude towards columnists and journalists who criticized President Bharrat Jagdeo over the past 12 years.  The Partnership expressed regret that, so early in his tenure as President, Mr Donald Ramotar would take such a retrograde step by allowing such an incident to occur. 

A new Era for Guyana Parliament

"We are at the stalemate stage on the chessboard of politics. It constitutes a fascinating moment in politics since the early 20th century. The PPP won the presidency but the combined opposition has control of the Parliament. Ignorant people who don’t understand the lessons of history will continue to be ignorant.


The PPP acceded to a call from the PNC under Robert Corbin and passed recall legislation that prevents a Parliamentarian from voting with the other side. He/she can be recalled by their party. If that didn’t happen, the PPP could have stolen a few opposition parliamentarians in the new Parliament (to be convened shortly) and would have had a black cheque in Parliament to continue on its path of Jagdeoite hegemony.

Parliament is a powerful institution. It has to approve the national budget. The Speaker of the National Assembly has formidable powers. We didn’t know about the magnitude of Parliament’s jurisdiction all this time because the past 20 years, power came from the office of the presidency and Parliament was subsumed under the Executive. It is a different situation since November 28, 2011."


From Freddie Kissoon article in Kaiteur News Sunday 11 December.
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