WHO IS THE MASTER AND WHO IS THE SERVANT?

Nov 21, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Ministers of the government need to be reminded that they are not placed in their positions to lord over others. They are servants of the people and are answerable to the people and to the institutions through which the public receives information about the activities of ministers.
One such institution is the media. It is therefore totally unbecoming for any minister of any government to openly declare that he will speak to the media when he feels like. That is an unacceptable position which had it occurred in a country with a developed political and democratic culture, would have seen the persons making such or a similar statement, banished into wilderness.
This is not going to happen in Guyana, because those who administer the affairs of this country are not totally committed to certain standards of accountability and respect for the role of institutions such as the media.
If a minister declares that he will speak to the media when he feels like, then it could well result that he may never speak to the media at all.
This may seem like just another of the many barrages that the media in Guyana is subjected to by those in power, but it is also a grave source of concern over which the Guyana Press Association should meet and issue a statement. If this act of executive haughtiness is not checked, it could be repeated on a far more contemptuous scale.
The Guyana Press Association and the Guyana Publishers Association should meet on this matter, have it ventilated and issue an appropriate comment, if not just for the record, to remind those who hold public office that they are not lords over others, but servants of the people and are expected to be accountable and respectful in their treatment of others.
No one is perfect and we have seen both here and elsewhere cases where intemperate statements have been made in the heat of the moment, for which regrets have been subsequently expressed.
Just a few days ago, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago apologized for some things she said. So it is not unusual at times for the wrong things to be said, and for what was said to be regretted and corrected.
The pattern that is however emerging in Guyana is that whenever senior government functionaries are uncomfortable with public scrutiny, there are attacks on the media.
While a certain amount of inexperience and the lack of political sophistication may have been involved in this most recent incident, what we are essentially dealing with is a process that views the media if not being for you, as being against you.
While it is true that media organizations do have vested interests, as do governments, the media is also a watchdog, thereby safeguarding either their vested interests or those of the wider public. Either way, democracy and accountability are served.
The government is not unaware of this role. The government itself is very happy when media houses reflect views that are sympathetic to their own positions and to the vested interests which the government also represents.
There is unfortunately a siege mentality that is destroying whatever possibilities exist for improved relations between the government and the media. And the main reason for the tension in the relations between the local media and the government remains the unwillingness of the government to engage in adequate disclosures on matters of public interest.
And it is obvious why there is this reluctance on the part of the government to deal with what in other democracies would be routine enquiries.
Why for example is there a need not to speak immediately as to the sale of land for the creation of what is being named Baby Pradoville? What is the difficulty in answering questions as to how the land was sold and to whom it was sold, and what was the process of allocating house lots? These seem like fairly straightforward questions.
And it is almost certain also that the manner in which the land was sold or allocated or both would have also been straightforward. Or was it?
This matter will eventually have to be dealt with.
The facts will eventually emerge and it would be interesting to see whether those who were involved in this matter would then be willing to speak to the media, for the media is not going to wait on them to speak, but will continue to investigate and probe while the people observe who is the master and who is the servant.

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WHO IS THE MASTER AND WHO IS THE SERVANT?

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