The Peeper accepts the correction
Peeping Tom
Kaieteur News
January 13, 2007
The Office of the President has issued a statement indicating that Pandit Prakash Gossai will be working as a Special Assistant and not as an Adviser to the President. The Peeper accepts this correction, and offers the following explanation for having alluded to the appointment as being that of an adviser to the President on religious and ethnic matters.
Last Saturday in a letter to another newspaper, Vishnu Bisram indicated the Pandit was remigrating to Guyana to take up a position as an adviser to the President on religious and ethnic affairs.
The Office of the President did not see it fit to issue a correction to this letter which was published three days before the Peeper made it the subject of the Peeping Tom column of Tuesday. No sooner, however did the Peeper's column appear this past Tuesday, the Office of the President reacted and went on to describe what they saw as mischief.
Vishnu Bisram in a letter in yesterday's Stabroek News indicated that his earlier letter was not intended to be mischievous or provide misinformation but to salute an outstanding leader of the Guyanese community in America for his ascension to higher office and to his overall achievement.
Bisram says that Gossai never said that he would be a religious adviser but only indicated that he would be assisting the President. Bisram continued that many at the (Pandit's) mandir assumed that his role would be advising the President about religious affairs.
The reputable pollster noted that he should never have accepted the assumption put forward by many of Gossai's ardent followers and deeply regretted his faux pas and the problems or controversy resulting from the letter, especially the Peeping Tom commentary.
He apologized to the President and to the Permanent Secretary of the Office of the President for turning a good appointment into an unnecessary controversy.
As for the Peeper, my response is that there is no controversy. This column has never questioned the competence of Pandit Gossai to take up any appointment. I merely sought to do what is normally done, with most public appointments, analyse the appointment and ask questions that the public may ask.
While I can understand the ardent followers of the Pandit misinterpreting the appointment as that of an adviser, how do we explain the double whammy of assuming his responsibilities would cover religious and ethnic affairs?
There must have been some basis for this assumption. I am sure that these followers did not simply pick up this assumed title out of thin air. Neither did the Peeper.
It is true that the Peeper was influenced by Bisram's letter of last Saturday. But I also did my research and visited the website run by the organization founded by Pandit Gossai.
On that website is reproduced an extract which bears the head logo of the online edition of the Guyana Chronicle of December 12, 2006.
The extract states as follows: ‘Mr. Prakash Gossai, leader of the Bhuvaneshwar Mandir in New York is to serve as an aide to President Bharrat Jagdeo, with responsibility, among other things, for ethnic relations and culture, the organization announced yesterday.
In a press release, the Hindu group said Gossai has already taken steps to consult others, “for he recognizes the vast potential out there that could be constructively harnessed in the quest of nation building.”
“His acceptance of a job in Guyana would not minimize this obligation to the mandir. He will still manage the mandir, and plans to return here twice monthly. The Bhuvaneshwar Mandir is too close to his heart to be removed from centre stage”, the release said.
“This is also a great moment of recognition for our community in New York, as the President has identified one of us with the requisite skills/talent to serve our country, Guyana, at a higher level”, the organization said.'
This extract can be found on the mandir's website http://www.bhuvaneshwarmandir.com/testimonials.htm.
From the statement, readers will note that the mandir did announce that Pandit would among other things have responsibility for ethnic relations and culture. I wonder whether the Office of the President also considers this release as mischievous and misleading.
I also hope that now that the Office of the President has confirmed that the Pandit is going to be appointed as a Special Assistant that they will ask the mandir to correct the misleading assumption.
The second important point to note about the release is the insistence that this appointment would not minimize the Pandit's obligation to the mandir. The release noted that he plans to return twice monthly. I have also noted from the same website that the Pandit's schedule for this year included being in Florida from January 25-27, 2007 and Trinidad from February 7th – 9th, 2007 and New York from March 7-10th, 2007.
I end by repeating that I have no problems with the appointment of Pandit Gossai. He is a good man and the country can benefit from his expertise. However I insist that like all public appointments, the public is entitled to ask questions and to analyze this appointment.
I do not consider that any controversy was generated by my column. I accept that correction by the Office of the President. I wish the Pandit every success in whatever way he is asked to serve the nation.