Latest update March 19th, 2024 12:10 AM
Sep 26, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
You look back at the week ending Saturday September 24, and it tells the story of a country where the authoritarian mind is deeply embedded. It began with the mentality of a man named Royston King who holds the powerful position of Town Clerk. King in a letter in the Stabroek News justifies his attack on the city vendors with the worn-out argument that the city is governed by laws. What King conveniently forgot to mention is that state officials, high and low, governmental and municipal in this country have consistently ignored the laws of the land. King is not different.
King conveniently forgot that he was accused of violating those very laws and was charged with a criminal offence. The charge was forgery. King cut a pathetic figure as he emerged out of the prisoners’ chute and sat on the bench with other accused. This unelected man left his office, walked down a street, saw over a hundred vendors plying their trade with goods worth millions of dollars, and literally chased them off the pavement. He didn’t oppress over a hundred vendors but hundreds more when you think of the families to feed.
The same week King wrote his letter about observing the laws of the land, the laws of the land seem helpless to stop the introduction of parking meters that King and his Mayor endorsed by signing a devilish contract that could only exist in an equally devilish country. Guyana may be an enduring authoritarian country but its clownish character is equally enduring. Now Georgetowners are watching a spectacle as the CEO of the parking meter company has been replaced and he says he does not know about that. So who is in charge of the parking meter company?
The same question could be asked of NCN. Last week the dictatorial nature of this country was on full display as the circus at NCN continued. An employee was removed from anchoring because of her pregnancy. The voices raised against that were vociferous. The matter quickly ended. The lady went back to her job. The Prime Minister instructed the CEO of NCN to apologize to the traumatized anchor. He did that and the drama faded away. But the drama re-emerged.
NCN hired a communications consultant, Mr. Abraham Poole, to investigate if NCN has a policy of gender discrimination. If the man is a communications consultant then why was he employed to investigate a non-technical issue that falls within the realm of industrial relations and sociology? Why not a retired labour officer or a social worker or a sociologist?
But that was not all. Instead of confidential dialogue, the consultant interviewed the managers en masse. The anchor was summoned to appear before the consultant and asked to recant her original claim that her pregnancy was the reason for removal. So the Prime Minister got it wrong when he asked the CEO to apologize to the lady. And if the lady’s pregnancy was not the determinant then why did the CEO adhere to the Prime Minister’s edict?
From authoritarianism at City Hall and NCN we move to the Guyana National Broadcasting Agency (GNBA). What happens in this country simply defies logic and it is doubtful that in any democratic society these social abnormalities will be found. The Chairman of the GNBA Board went public with complaints he received against two of his board members Tony Vieira and Vic Insannally. The two board members have threatened to pursue legal action. What can they sue for?
In making the complaint public, did the chairman defame them? What did he make public? His acceptance that the two board members acted illegally or immorally? Or the simple fact that an operator made an accusation? The chairman did not say the two board members were wrong. He merely told the Guyanese people about an allegation. If the chairman of any state institution cannot tell the nation that complaints are made against high-ranking officials then we are living in a deeply, disturbing Orwellian society.
I reject any legal argument that in publicizing the information, the persons in question were libeled. If the laws of libel provides for such a situation, then the law is an ass. If the Police Commissioner complains to the Chancellor of the University that the Vice-Chancellor is discriminating against police officers at UG, and the Chancellor so informs the nation, how could that constitute libel or defamation? He is merely telling the nation that an accusation is made against the head of the university. He is not telling the country that he believes what the Commissioner says. If the lawyers have so advised Messrs Tony Vieira and Vic Insannally, then they are wrong.
Listen to the man that is throwing Guyanese bright future away
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