TAKE ANOTHER BOW, KAIETEUR NEWS!

Aug 26, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News take another bow! This newspaper must once again be congratulated on yet another piece of outstanding investigative journalism – this time in tracking down that taxi driver who has given to the police a statement implicating three ranks of the Guyana Police Force.
The Police Commissioner does not need anything more to act. He has a statement from the man and therefore one would at least expect that within the next few hours, charges will be laid against those who were part of the reported heist.
One can only surmise as to what would have been the fate of that taxi driver had he been stopped at a lonely spot. He may not have lived to tell his tale. That he has been able to tell his tale and make it know to the public has in great measure been due to the outstanding reporting by this newspaper which tracked the man down and got his version.
His story cannot now be ducked. His statement cannot be swept under the carpet. It now has to be examined and action taken. What is being revealed here represents a serious indictment against the Joint Services. Already three members of the Coast Guard have been charged before the courts with murder. Judging from what this taxi driver has said, more charges are likely to follow.
The laying of charges and the ongoing investigation should send a message to all those within the Disciplined Services that their authority ought never to be abused. It should remind all within these organizations that their job is to prevent crime and not to use their positions to enrich themselves.
Concerns about public officers enriching themselves are of course not limited to the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force. This newspaper has been on the hot trail for a number of weeks and the further this newspaper proceeds, the hotter in the trail it gets.
Instead of however been complimented for its expose, this newspaper is being taken to task and condemned by a senior government functionary. This newspaper is being accused of fabricating news. To this allegation, this newspaper can point to real projects built and constructed, things which can be felt and touched and which are not the figment of our or anyone’s imagination.
But what is shocking is the statement made by the same government official that two reporters of this newspaper told him that they were instructed not to carry the other (government’s side) of the story. What a disgraceful and shocking statement, and coming from someone who has the responsibility to act on what this newspaper has unearthed.
This newspaper, I am sure, is quite capable of having all its reporters interviewed by an independent panel to determine whether indeed any such an order was given. But that is as ridiculous a charge as there can be, because this newspaper has been featuring the government’s response and in the process exposing its awkwardness.
This newspaper not only carried but gave prominence to the response by the Ministry of Finance in relation to the pump and engine procured for the Stanleytown Pumping Station. This newspaper has also carried the responses of the Ministry of Agriculture to every single story that has been carried in relation to the Drainage and Irrigation Board.
If there is any problem it is not with Kaieteur News but with the lack of timely responses in answer to our queries. The authorities need to be reminded about the length of time it took to obtain the cost of the contracted works which this newspaper was tracking. There were also delays in obtaining the specifications for certain public works.
There are many other issues which are outstanding, and in fact, the inability of this newspaper to obtain responses to a number of pressing matters of public concern had forced this newspaper to run a special column for weeks demanding answers to its questions on a wide range of subjects from the ants nest torture to contaminated fuel supplied to the electricity corporation. It may be opportune at this time to ask what has happened to the Freedom of Information Bill which was promised to this nation months ago.
Instead of preoccupying himself with Kaieteur News, the high official who is now accusing this newspaper of instructing its reporters to not report on the other side should address the serious concerns that have been raised by this newspaper.
Among those concerns are the inflated cost of public works, and now yet another troubling allegation implicating the law enforcement agencies in criminal actions.

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