The McCoy issue is alive

Sep 21, 2009 Editorial

Scandals abound everywhere and often the people involved would remain silent. All of those who begin denying their involvement often end up embarrassed because investigations reveal their complicity.
There have been many cases of public officials being caught in the most uncompromising of situations. Some have even opted to move to the courts to seek to prevent the further publication of their indiscretions. They often hope that the courts would provide a cover.
In Guyana the courts do provide an opportunity for the people seeking protection because of the nature of injunctions, many of which are granted ex parte. Indeed this is not the end of the matter because the person against whom the injunction is sought has the opportunity to go to the courts to challenge it. But many do not.
In other countries, the person seeking the injunction must prove that there is merit in their pursuit, that the reportage is not in the public interest and that the plaintiff has a good chance of winning any legal challenge he might make.
In fact, public personalities have the most difficult time convincing the courts that they should be granted an injunction. They are also the least likely to win claims for libel unless the issue is clear.
The situation in Guyana is somewhat different. The more prominent the individual, the more likely is he to prevail in the courts. It is as though the courts are there to protect the prominent person in the event of civil action and more particularly, in the case of media reporting.
An issue is currently in the public domain. It involves a recording of an individual soliciting sex from a minor. This individual is a public official. Most public officials cannot escape notice. They are often so prominent that recordings of their voice are as distinct as their visages.
There is no one in Guyana who would have a problem identifying President Bharrat Jagdeo or Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, or Prime Minister Sam Hinds by voice. Many people also have distinctive voices, some to their detriment. People have been convicted in criminal courts because their victims identified them by their voice.
So we come to a tape-recording of a sexually explicit conversation between Kwame McCoy and a teenager. McCoy has been in the public domain for as long as many could remember. He was a television producer and host of a programme called Square Talk. People got to know him.
In the role of liaison to the President he was in constant contact with the media and his voice became even more common. No one who speaks to McCoy will ever have a problem identifying him by voice. It is this voice that is on the tape-recording and it is this that McCoy wants to deny.
He issues a statement in which he claims inter alia, “Information was brought to my attention that there is an audio recording of a conversation between two males, one of whom is purporting to be Kwame Mc Coy. This recording is clearly a fabrication aimed solely at smearing my character and family name.”
It becomes more difficult for McCoy to disavow his voice because the caller is a real person who is prepared to provide telephone records of conversations and information on other approaches.
Will McCoy attempt to do what another prominent person who also used the courts to sue claiming damage to reputation? Will he seek to allow money to influence the individual? We doubt so in this case. As a result, claims by McCoy that since his appointment to the Rights of the Child Commission that he was reliably informed “that there was a certain group of persons out to get me at all cost and I was warned to be careful” will amount to nothing.
The courts, if Mr. McCoy executes his threat to seek legal advice then he would face further embarrassment. He writes, “I am already in contact with my attorneys and we will be taking legal action against any one or media house that seek to publish the recording and or any story that is being derived from same.”
That threat if leveled against this newspaper will not deter further investigation and publication of reports emanating from the issue. In fact, this newspaper would retaliate by seeking legal action against McCoy for malicious prosecution.

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The McCoy issue is alive

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