Investigative journalism? Look the other way

Aug 02, 2009 Features / Columnists, My Column

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By Adam Harris
Yesterday was Emancipation Day and a friend criticized me for an editorial that appeared in the newspapers. Indeed, that editorial expressed the bitterness felt by many at today’s developments among people in the country and some people were not happy at the blunt disclosures.
I realized that people like to live in a pretend world. Of course life in the make-believe world is safe because the human mind sometimes cannot accept some of the gruesome things that are becoming a part of everyday life. It is for this reason that people object most vehemently at gruesome photographs on their television and on the front pages of the newspapers.

Not so long ago there were those who hated Kaieteur News because it had gone to the limits of graphically bringing to people the facts of what happened. There were pictures of broken bodies, people shot and killed in the most horrible ways and of course, the accident victims.
Indeed, there were those who preferred to read and not see while there were those who had to see the real thing. People are like that; they have to see for themselves and these are the people who made Kaieteur News the leading newspaper and who are still faithful readers of the newspaper.
Meanwhile, everyone in the country has been calling on the news media to engage in more investigative reporting. People needed to know what was going on and of course they all believed that the government needed to be monitored. This is true in every country.
People therefore exposed that the news media would be there to see that everything the government does is above board. And of course, the leaders of government needed to know that the Ministers and others on the payroll were operating in the best interest of the government.

But the truth is that reporters these days are content to just report on what is said and on what is easily seen. This explains the preponderance of news items dealing with what politicians say and on presentations and other activities. Even President Bharrat Jagdeo was pushed to say that today’s reporters in Guyana were lazy. And he is right.
Now comes the problem. Kaieteur News, at the request of the government decided to keep an eye on projects. It started by examining contracts hoping that the government would be in a position to spot leaks of funds from its limited treasury.
There have been contracts that appear excessively high, even to the layman. Kaieteur News decided to examine some of these contracts. Over time, the newspaper has been reporting on shoddy work that emanated from large contracts.
For example, the people along the road that runs along the Essequibo River to Roden Rust, have long complained that three months after the road was constructed it deteriorated to conditions worse than the previous road before the repairs.

There were reports and the government would vow to ban the contractor. However, given the paucity of skills and the cleverness of the contractor, this was easier said than done. Sometimes contractors would merely place another family member at the head of the company and change the name of the company.
If Kaieteur News thought that it was doing the government a favour by examining the contracts, it had another thing coming. There are people in the government who are now angry; very angry. They now feel that the government is under attack. They are suddenly of the view that they are being exposed.
The Ministry of Agriculture is now asking reporters who seek a comment to send all queries by e-mail. This has never been the case. When this is done the response is about a week in coming.
A newspaper will not hold a routine story for a week and this is why many stories would have a tagline that comments could not be had. Some people are simply unavailable and when the story appears they have the gumption to be angry. They then pen their comments.

This should not be the case because in reality, if contracts are inflated then the government should act and in the end, save money to undertake even more projects. Kaieteur News found many of these contracts and began to ask questions. The people being asked became angry. One contractor actually told a reporter to go to hell. If there was nothing to worry about why get angry?
I am surprised at the fallout. There seems to be a studied campaign against Kaieteur News; some people in the government seem to be ostracizing the newspaper and I can’t say that I am happy. What began as a programme in the interest of the nation and the government is now being seen as a campaign against the government.
A man in Canada actually wrote to me to let me know that Kaieteur News is on a campaign to bring down the government.

I had the opportunity to examine a situation that I saw as being of benefit to the national treasury. Commissioner of the Guyana Revenue Authority, Khurshid Sattaur, has long been talking about expanding the revenue base and of collecting all the available taxes.
I remember a man who was close to Forbes Burnham telling the present government that he had got a gift from relatives overseas. The tax man made him pay dearly.
So there was this individual who from initial appearances could not afford a $60 million house. And if the funding was a gift then the taxes had to be paid. I am being sued for reporting on that house and the purchaser. The person filing the lawsuit is the husband of the buyer whose address is the same as the buyer but who is seeking to divorce himself from the purchase.
And people talk about investigative journalism.

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