On the Firing of Freddie Kissoon
Freddie Kissoon was recently fired from Kaieteur News where he worked as a columnist for 28 years. The news has created somewhat of a stir in Guyana where Freddie has been one of the most controversial journalistic figures.
I will start by stating that Freddie is someone that I once had some degree of respect for. I did not always agree with him or his approach, but Freddie was an activist who spoke truth to power and faced the consequences for doing so. Since the fallout from the 2020 elections in Guyana, Freddie has unfortunately taken positions that I cannot support. I expressed this view in an essay titled “The Tragic Decline of Freddie Kissoon: A Defense of Eusi Kwayana” which was published in my book Democracy by Bullets and Teargas. In that essay, I defended Eusi Kwayana against Freddie’s dishonest attacks against him.
Since 2020, Freddie has seemingly been on a campaign to smear the characters of everyone whom he has a political disagreement with. Freddie did this to Eusi Kwayana in 2020, but Eusi Kwayana was not the only target. Freddie saw fit to drag Walter Rodney’s name into the mud slinging. Freddie also accused Claudette Singh of supporting the election rigging in Guyana because she “considers herself an African Guyanese”. Freddie was of course wrong about this, but this statement displayed a level of racism that was shocking to those of us who were familiar with Freddie’s work. He was someone who had previously stood up against racism in the country, but 2020 turned Freddie into one of the most racially divisive figures in the country.
David Hinds, who was a former friend and associate of Freddie’s, — and someone who has been a frequent target of Freddie’s disrespect sicne 2020— spoke out on the topic to express his support for Freddie. At the 20 minute mark at the video above, Hinds speaks about how he was removed by Kaieteur News. Hinds noted that Freddie was supportive of the decision to remove him. As Hinds noted, Freddie fell victim to the very thing he supported. Another important point which was raised in the video with Hinds is that Hinds refers to Freddie as his friend. He makes it clear that he has not disowned Freddie, but Freddie seems to have turned on those who supported him in the past.
Freddie’s response to the firing was insightful for two reason. The first reason is that Freddie once again displays his character by referring to Glenn Lall as a semi-literate man who behaves like a money at the 40 minute mark at the video above. This is a man whom Freddie worked for, but this ungratefulness is hardly surprising at this point. Eusi Kwayana helped Freddie to obtain a university education and Freddie would repay Kwayana by accusing Kwayana of wanting to promote racial violence in Guyana. Freddie even admits at the 46 minute mark that he decided to wait until his column was dropped by Kaieteur News before moving to denounce Glenn Lall. It’s even more hypocritical for Freddie to denounce Glenn Lall for removing him from the paper given that Freddie supported the decision to remove David Hinds.
Freddie’s response is also insightful because he claims at the 38 minute mark that he supports the direction of Irfaan Ali’s presidency. He claims that he has found no reason to criticize President Ali’s government, yet the Kaieteur News recently published what I think is a valid criticism of the the PPP’s failure to fulfil its promise to renegotiate the oil contracts. Is failure to keep a campaign promise not something which warrants some type of criticism?
The whole ordeal is yet another sad reminder of how far Freddie has declined since the 2020 election. Glenn Lall alleged that Freddie is being paid by the PPP government to act as a mouthpiece of the government. I don’t know whether this is true or not, but what I can say is that Freddie’s conduct since the 2020 election continues to be disappointing.
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Dwayne is the author of several books on the history and experiences of African people, both on the continent and in the diaspora. His books are available through Amazon. You can also follow Dwayne on Facebook and Twitter.
