Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 21, 2011 News
“The confounded nonsense must cease and it must cease now.”
“The confounded nonsense must cease and it must cease now,” were the words of Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Dr Steve Surujbally as he yesterday lambasted the attacks perpetrated against media houses and personalities in the lead-up Election Day 2011.
Dr Surujbally in his condemnation of the attacks on the media did not single out any individual but said that the act could only seek to wreck the nation. He was emphasizing at the time, the fact that any efforts to besmirch the image of the commission could have very tragic results.
It was in that context that Dr Surujbally said that the “vile and virulent attacks on the media have not gone unnoticed by us.”
The GECOM Chairman warned that they do not intend to manage the election in an atmosphere of rancor and turbulence.
He charged that attacking the media in general and individual media personnel in particular, “to my mind are self-destructive, nation-wrecking, counterproductive and frankly inane and the confounded nonsense must cease and it must cease now.”
Dr Surujbally pointed out that over the years the Commission has been able to build up international credibility.
“You have to believe when I say people from all over the world ask us to send our manuals… give them advice if there is some imbroglio.”
He said that in Commonwealth countries in particular, Guyana’s help is sought when those countries need to unravel some sort of electoral debacle.
“That is what we have built and to have that jeopardized is not good.”
The GECOM Chairman suggested that perhaps the perpetrators of the attacks on the media feel compelled to react to a perceived media attack.
“I don’t buy that…you see morality, maturity and decency dictate that we must not carry out elections in a tit-for-tat environment.”
According to Dr Surujbally, “the grand tradition of human reflection must not disavow the very core of decorum and commonsense.”
While the GECOM Chairman did not single out any person in particular, the recent attacks on the media, most notably from President Bharrat Jagdeo, have been widely reported and condemned by the local press association as well as international observers and media watchdog bodies among others.
The Head of State during the Kitty Rally for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic had called some sections of the media “vultures and carrion crows.” This was widely condemned and the following week, at a rally in the mining town of Linden, the President gloated in the ire that he had attracted and launched another attack on the media.
President Jagdeo is no stranger to controversial attacks on the media.
In one such incident, Jagdeo had singled out this publication for a particularly vitriolic attack during a Private Sector Commission dinner.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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