We must have balance and fairness instead of ill-advised misinformation

Sep 24, 2008 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
My attention has been drawn to a letter to the editor entitled “Guyanese in Barbados upset with Consul representation” (Kaieteur News, 15 September 2008) by PNC MP Ernest Elliot.

When in public office like myself, you may sometimes upset individuals whom, for some reason or another, you cannot please. For his part, Mr. Elliot is a PNC Opposition MP and one certainly understands his stance towards a PPP/Civic appointed Honorary Consul and this is freedom to do so.

On his recent visit to Barbados, Mr. Elliot should nevertheless have contacted me to get accurate information on stories allegedly told him about the Consulate.

In fairness, I may have been out of the island on consular work but my secretary has no recollection of him contacting her, neither did I receive an e-mail/phone (numbers available at Ministry of Foreign Affairs) call from him.

Had he spoken with me, he would have avoided frequently using vague and unsubstantiated references to “many Guyanese told him” in his interview with your reporter.

He opens himself to suspicions from your readers that he is crudely showing his (political) agenda. I am told the Consulate in Barbados, since my appointment in 1994, continues to offer unprecedented services with sensitivity, efficiency and a non-discriminatory approach, including on the basis of political affiliation.

This contrasts with the watch of my predecessor among whose limitations were the inability to renew passports. This is all well documented.

I wish to express my further disappointment at how the Kaieteur News handled the interview with Mr. Elliot. There are, for example no words such as “Mr. Elliot charged”, “Mr. Elliot alleged” or “Mr. Elliot claimed” as should be the case with such a news story. We must have balance and fairness instead of ill-advised misinformation.

The paper also did not contact me to get my side of the story. Your readers deserve fair and balanced news.
I don’t blame the reporter: a senior editor should have picked up on this. Had the paper contacted me, it would then have avoided two factual errors of its own in said article.

One is that contrary to what the “news” item said about “many Guyanese” in Barbados feeling that the recent murder of a Guyanese national in the island was an “attack on the Guyanese community” in the island, there is no evidence available to the Consulate from the Barbados police or other sources that this is so.

Secondly, as referred to above, Consul Faria hasn’t been Consul for “decades”, as you write. I was appointed in 1994.

Norman Faria
(Guyana’s Honorary Consul in Barbados)

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