Frederick Kissoon, popularly known as Freddie Kissoon, was recently dismissed as a lecturer at the University of Guyana, where he served for 26 years, since 1986, by officials of the ruling PPP administration. He had an unblemished and illustrious career, and conducted research, including a seventy-five-page essay that investigated racism in the exercise of power in all the presidents of Guyana, ...including Mr Bharrat Jagdeo. This published essay was submitted to the Guyana Historical Society at a conference in 2010.
The PPP Government, over which Mr Jagdeo then presided, dispatched operatives who attempted to disrupt the conference. That resulted in Freddie’s column titled, “King Kong sent his goons to disrupt the conference†(
www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2010/06/28/ki...srupt-the-conference
), which in turn sparked a historic lawsuit that is still ongoing. So far, however, the trial brought to light the glaring racism practiced by successive Jagdeo administrations in making State appointments, including to the Foreign Service. When the Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, was asked if other than Ms Elizabeth Harper, there is no other African Guyanese who qualifies to get an overseas posting as Ambassador, he said there was none.
That answer was made famous throughout the recently concluded Presidential election campaign in Guyana by Nigel Hughes, one of the eminent defence attorneys in the trial, and by Freddie himself, who spoke on the platform of the Alliance for Change political party. That party went on to win 7 Parliamentary seats and holds the balance of power between the two traditional political giants, the PPP and PNC, for the first time since 1964. It is this that the PPP is smarting from and caused them to engineer Freddie’s removal from the University of Guyana.
Freddie Kissoon, who today is 61, became politically conscious as a youth in 1970s under the guidance of Boyo Ramsaroop (
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=102417339796622
). He went on to support the WPA at the risk of life, fighting the Forbes Burnham PNC regime. During that time he was locked up by the PNC, unbeknownst to his family, and tossed out of a moving bus, resulting in a serious back injury. In those days he was beaten too many times to remember as well.
In his twenty-six years at the University of Guyana, he has had his contract renewed each time it was up after peer review of his teaching and research on the recommendation by the Appointments Committee. He taught philosophy, comparative politics, Caribbean politics, third world politics and international relations to thousands of students including most of the army and police hierarchy, and the hierarchy of the public service. His students included a number of the most important lawyers in Guyana, most of the PPP and Opposition leaders (and their children), including Mr Robert Corbin, the current, President Donald Ramotar and Minister of Education, Ms Priya Manickchand. He has done more academic research than two of the Presidential aides who argued for his dismissal – Mr Prem Misir and Ms Gail Teixeira.
Freddie is married for 33 years and has one daughter. Though controversial, Freddie is a Guyanese icon and does not deserve, nor does any Guyanese, to be treated in this high-handed manner. Especially by a political party that was voted against by the majority of Guyanese. This facebook page is to highlight this injustice and aims to reverse the decision made by the Donald Ramotar PPP administration.
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