This was Published on July 3, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear\nEditor,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nlull in election letters as we move towards the election defeat staring the\nAPNU+AFC+WPA, allows me the opportunity to react to the responses to my letter\nof June 13, 2020 edition of SN, `A movement once famous for its values and\nRodneyite principles is now deeply involved in attempts to rig the 2020\nelections\u2019. Readers will probably recall that a response came first from Tacuma\nOgunseye, then Desmond Trotman and latterly Eusi Kwayana. I will ignore\nthe innuendoes and attempted attacks by Ogunseye and Trotman as unworthy of\nboth the WPA we all knew, or a reply and merely seek to correct Kwayana who\nseemed to mix-up, unwittingly I hope, my reference to our conversation when he\nwas leaving Guyana in the heat of the Buxton troubles with when he returned for\nthe Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry. I would like to maintain my respect\nfor Kwayana and the privacy of our conversations even as he chooses to highlight\na narrative reflective of an obviously evolved view of events and key actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nwas both surprised and amused at the lengths to which Ogunseye would go to\nfabricate facts. He accused me of being a major shareholder in a company of\nwhich Ram & McRae is the independent auditor a statement which an Editor\u2019s\nnote forced him to retract. That was not his only fabrication. His letter also\nstated that \u201cWhat Ram has failed to tell readers is that it was under the\nPNC\/Burnham regime, aided by his buddy, Elvin McDavid, who at the time was a\npowerful politician in the ruling party and government that \u201copened\u201d the door\nfor Ram to emerge as a successful businessman and now an economic power in the\ncountry. The genesis of his economic empire lies in the support he received\nfrom Mc David\u2019s organised \u201cstate patronage\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As\nthe following shows, and he can confirm this with Kwayana, the facts are quite\ndifferent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nleft Guyana as an employed person in 1978 for Grenada where I worked first with\nCoopers & Lybrand and then the People\u2019s Revolutionary Government (PRG) led\nby Maurice Bishop. After the invasion, I returned to Guyana with my young\nfamily to set up home. Among those returning were Freddie Kissoon, Ms. Denise\nCossou and economists Claremont Kirton and Eddie Dewar. The latter two and I\nset up the ambitiously named Management and Economic Consultancy Services\nLimited along partnership lines. After a few months of struggle and no work,\nthey packed up and left. I was determined to stay on and set up an accounting\npractice which Ogun refers to as an economic power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Miles\nFitzpatrick who had also worked with the PRG rejoined the law firm de Caires\nand Fitzpatrick and persuaded David de Caires to give me \u201ca brace\u201d. I would\nvisit their office every Friday afternoon to balance the partnership\u2019s books. I\nsupplemented my meagre income by doing some moonlighting accounting work with\nan old friend from South West London College who had an accounting practice in\nCentral Trinidad. Because I had written in 1980 as Purpose of Visit on my\nimmigration landing card \u201cTo attend Walter Rodney\u2019s Funeral\u201d, a complete search\nof person and luggage on arrival had become obligatory. I soon discovered\nhowever that an offer of a copy of Time magazine as good an explanation as any\nto ease the entry process!<\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nthe meantime, I had reconnected with Paul Chan-a-Sue, my old boss from Bookers\nStores Limited Guyana. Paul offered me a small engagement to set up an\naccounting system at National Printers Ltd. Shortly before the commencement\ndate, Paul informed me that he had been \u201cadvised\u201d by Mr. Elvin McDavid, Chief\nPolitical Advisor to President Burnham, to withdraw the offer on the\ninstructions of Burnham. (Mr. Chan-a-Sue who is still around has consented to\nmy use of his name in this letter). During that time when the State boasted of\ncontrolling the commanding heights of the economy, all State audit and\naccounting work was reserved entirely for Thomas, Stoll and Dias. Even crumbs\nwere not available to the few private accounting and audit firms around and the\nperiod witnessed the exodus of some of our brightest accountants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometime\nafter McDavid\u2019s removal by Hoyte as Chief Political Adviser to the President\nfollowing Burnham\u2019s death, Mrs. Doreen de Caires called to tell me that\nMcDavid, whose house in Queenstown had been rented by the Stabroek News, was\nconcerned about his tax affairs and requested her to inquire of me whether I\nwould assist him. I agreed and brought his affairs up to date, all at no cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyone\nwho knows Elvin would tell you he was not a shy man and even while we were\nmeeting to finalise his work, he requested similar work for Mrs. Viola Burnham\non the same terms which he enjoyed! I agreed and I have to say that I have met\nfew women with Mrs. Burnham\u2019s charm, elegance and humility. Elvin and I did\nbecome friends in the late eighties, and he as the pioneer of the Burnham\nFoundation invited me to deliver the feature presentation at one of the early\nanniversary events for Burnham. But money or work from Burnham, McDavid and\nViola? \u2013 definitely never. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\ndo not need any further apology from Mr. Ogunseye. What is important to me is\nthat the public must not be misled or deceived by those in support of our new\nriggers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yours\nfaithfully,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Christopher\nRam <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This was Published on July 3, 2020 Dear Editor, The lull in election letters as we move towards the election defeat staring the APNU+AFC+WPA, allows me the opportunity to react to the responses to my letter of June 13, 2020 edition of SN, `A movement once famous for its values and Rodneyite principles is now … <\/p>\n