Eusi Kwayana denies receiving money from Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry

Last Updated on Tuesday, 10 May 2016, 6:31 by Denis Chabrol

Eusi Kwayana testifying before the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry.

Seeing a clipping  of an  accusation   of  corruption  and  crookery  against  me   and a  woman colleague  has kept me from expressing  any opinion  on the several issues of public  morality in Guyana.

I  know that I am not   perfect. but feel we should all aim at that  and be open to scrutiny  so as to qualify for public  roles.

Not being a bare-faced person  I can’t question  the conduct of public figures  at a time when for the first time in my life a newspaper  maintains  an accusation  against me of   receiving  money  behind the  back of  the  public  from the Rodney Commission of  Inquiry.  The  accuser  said plainly that I acted “surreptitiously”  and received  money  from the  Rodney Commission  for travel and “housing.”

I  learned  about the accusation because Brother Tacuma Ogunseye  sent me a clipping  from the October  16, 2 015  issue of  the newspaper . I suppose he sent it because he had heard me say that I came to the Inquiry without government   or  Commission money.   I also said that I stayed with Andaiye who recently assured me   that she  made no claim on the Commission  for housing me and received no money from it and   that it never owed her money.   Chris Ram and Tacuma Ogunseye  met me at the airport and Dr Ifill took me to sessions of the public hearings and Ms Dow took me past some new layouts

The late Troy Kellam took  me to Moray House and to a tomb in Sparendaam  and to Buxton twice, all at their  own expense. Friends in the USA subscribed my air fare and my wife  gave me   money  for myself  and a friend  of hers.

I thought about the accusation and perhaps stupidly sought  the help of the newspapers with a record  of freedom of expression. I would on no account  enter into  “fending and proving”  with the editor  whose paper  had  maliciously called me  “chief cook and bottle washer in the 1962 budget disturbances  which were subject to  a Commonwealth Commission of Inquiry  and much documentation.    The  contending sides   did not seem to need any outside   help to  cook or wash their bottles.  Yet a reckless columnist could write that claim and  get away with it,  and pat himself on the back as a (mis)leading  columnist and   expert in stereotype.

In an email dated   .October 25, 2015  I  forwarded the offending clipping of October 16, 2015   to  the editors of the Stabroek News and the  Kaieteur News and to two  other   journalists, requesting them  to note the accusation, to  investigate it, and to publish their findings.  I denied the report and said I was prepared to answer their questions

The busy editors  may not have seen my letter. In any case  I received no reply and got no  news of an investigation.  I therefore  repeated my request to  the editors in a  second  email dated   February 1,2016  In each case the Subject line read : For the Editor ‘s attention.

I thought that editors  would see the accusation as a chance  to call on the government to give details  and documents  of COI expenditure which had been used as an issue.

The  October 16 publication  had called on Dr  C Y Thomas to investigate  the allegation as a case of corruption.

In this matter I would welcome legal assistance.  Part of my mission  in politics has been to show that public morality and fairness are possible. I have sued and have  been sued.  I have  defended myself and have been defended  I have had my salary in the National Assembly garnished. I have taken the witness stand in the   High Court  when four police  men sued Dayclean  for publishing  that 3 of them raped a woman  prisoner  at  Eve Leary as the other failed to  protect her.   They  were represented but all failed twice to take the stand

In 2002  when  Dr David Hinds and I were  urging  sanity when  the opposite seemed attractive, a  letter in the Guyana Chronicle accused us both of wishing the destruction of Indians.   It was

We sued for libel  assisted by Attorney  at Law   Mr.  Alan Lancaster.  The case was heard  in August,2013.  Dr Hinds  attended in person  and I appeared  through Skype.   As  I understand it the matter reached the stage of quantity  of damages  to be  awarded  against  the newspaper.

The writer of the corruption  allegation  of October 16  is a masked man  who is well practised in  the  discrediting of wide cross  sections of the population  by targeting   individuals of his choice,

I again invite the editors  to consider the investigation have requested  and not to treat  it as my problem and that of  Citizen  Andaiye.

If this letter cannot qualify  for publication    or action I  shall seek to  raise the cost of publishing  it  as an advertisement, or organise a mass email distribution