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Oct 08, 2014 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
The Government of Guyana should be ashamed. To have produced such a silly statement as it did, in relation to this newspaper’s call for the citizens of Guyana to stand by this newspaper in the face of a plot to muzzle the newspaper and silence the publisher by having him jailed, shows the depths of mediocrity to which the party has fallen since the death of Cheddi Jagan.
The statement put out by the PPP is equally a shocking reminder of how far the PPPC has strayed from the ideals of its former General Secretary, and the standards which it now embraces. This is no longer Jagan’s PPP. It is the PPP of another J.
Instead of offering a defence and reasons for its inaction in moving to curb the obvious abuse of political office by public functionaries, the PPP seeks to blame the victims, Glenn Lall and Kaieteur News, by accusing them of using claims that this newspaper is under threat to deflect from what it claims are alleged illegal activities.
Every time the PPP has attacked the media, it has defended its assaults on the basis that those who are the victims have an agenda against the government, are aligned with the opposition parties or are trying to divert attention from some other act or acts. This is the defence that is being offered in the name of the government.
The PPP must be reminded that it was its actions in withdrawing State advertisement from the Stabroek News that caused great stress to the founder of the Stabroek News, David de Caries. That stress aggravated a heart condition and David died a bitter man, having helped to restore press freedom to Guyana, only to see the “democratic” PPP attempt to destroy his paper.
The government also must be reminded that the present plot to muzzle the Kaieteur News has implicated persons associated within the ruling party. This is not being addressed by the government.
The government should be reminded that this is not the first time that threats have been leveled at Kaieteur News. Every time Kaieteur News has received information of a plot to shut it down, it has reported this to the public, often doing so as a front page comment. It has never hesitated to make these threats public. It has always taken these threats seriously because of the credibility its management has attached to the reports received. These threats have been given both now and in the past, front page coverage, because they constituted in the eyes of any reasonable-thinking person, a threat to press freedom.
If the plan is to close down a newspaper, then that by any standard constitutes a threat to press freedom. The threats against Kaieteur News were a threat to press freedom in the past, as they are now.
We have reported on the threats to deal with Kaieteur News. We have reported on the threats to deal with the publisher of this newspaper. We have long known about the surveillance that was taking place of our head office from a nearby building. We know who was behind the installation of the CCTV cameras and to whom the reports on the footage went. We knew that the cameras were installed to see who was providing information to Kaieteur News. We know of persons who were called into whose office and asked why they were seen at Kaieteur News.
It was not Glenn Lall who took to the political platforms in Berbice to attack the publisher of this newspaper and to attack Kaieteur News. It was not Adam Harris who had urged the business community to not advertise with this newspaper. It was not Kaieteur News which began to roll back government ads to the Kaieteur News and the Stabroek News. It was not Kaieteur News that concocted the plan to use a free column we offered to the ruling party, to make scurrilous attacks on Glenn Lall.
The threats against Kaieteur News are not new. They have their genesis in a plot to stifle the independent media so that the cronies of the PPP can dominate the print media. They have their origins in the fact that the many revelations about official corruption which Kaieteur News reported were causing concerns within ruling circles. They have their roots in the reaction to the series we did exposing the controversial deals made under the Jagdeo administration. Instead of taking action to address the corruption, a plan was hatched to muzzle this newspaper.
Press freedom is under attack in Guyana. There are plots which have been and are being hatched to destroy this newspaper. The government should be reining in the rogue elements within the administration that have schemed to destroy the values and ideals of Cheddi Jagan. Instead it is attempting to blame the victims.
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