There was no reference to Lincoln Lewis in programme

Dear Editor,

I was taken quite by surprise when I read a letter written by trade unionist Lincoln Lewis, in which he launched an unwarranted attack on the Finance Minister Winston Jordan for things the Minister allegedly said on the Walter Rodney Groundings Programme, aired on the HBTV Channel 9 on Sunday December 11, 2016 (‘It is expected that leaders in the National Assembly…’ SN, December 13).

My dismay, as the moderator of the said programme, lies in the fact that the unmerited attack carried numerous allegations that were all untrue. The basis for the tirade was Mr Lewis’s accusation that Minister Jordan sought to get personal with him “given that the trade unions and the private sector have sought audience with leaders in the National Assembly about the budget”. How Mr Lewis arrived at such an assumption or conclusion is anyone’s guess. Nowhere in that one hour of discourse between Minister Jordan and me was the name Lincoln Lewis mentioned or was even a minuscule reference to him made.

However, Mr Lewis used this fabrication to himself get pretty personal with Minister Jordan to the extent that one is left to wonder if the spin was a deliberate ploy to create an apparent legitimate opportunity to express his personal feelings about Minister Jordan and about the budget. Mr Lewis chose this created opportunity to demonstrate his knowledge in every area ‒ Guyana’s Constitution, the roles and duties of government to society under the law and international conventions, the right to freedom of expression and to dissent.

He even threw the deceased Clarence Ellis into the fray. I am absolutely disappointed that Mr Lewis chose to use me in this way. I sincerely hope that there is no repeat of this sleight of hand.

Yours faithfully, Deon Abrams