When honest questions breed enemies

Dec 05, 2010 Features / Columnists, My Column

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By Adam Harris

Whoever said that silence is golden was certainly not speaking about the people who refuse to reply to questions directed at them. Of course, there are times when silence is really golden. For example, some men would tell you that they detest having the wife nagging all the time, even when they, the husbands, realise that they have done nothing to deserve such treatment.
From the woman’s point of view, she would say that her nagging is important to her very well-being. I have known women who would start a quarrel and when the husband ignores them, would demand, “Answer me. If you don’t I ain’t gun stop.”
There are also those who would say that they do not know why they nag except that when they are finished they feel good. There was the Indian man who said that his wife’s name was Five Horses. When the observer said that it was an unusual name and demanded to know the meaning, the Indian simply said, “Nag Nag Nag Nag Nag.”
Reporters are not known to be kin to the golden rule of silence is golden. For the most part they know that the wider society depends on them to make the most noise when things appear to go wrong, or when there is something worth shouting about.
Over time, the newspapers have been asking questions about the Guyana Times and its subsidiaries. I am not sure that the questions resulted from a fear that the new newspaper would challenge any of the established ones for a share of the readership. Rather, it must have been a case of wanting to know what would prompt an individual to invest in a newspaper at a time when readership is declining, largely because people no longer read. In fact, many of them cannot read these days.
I hasten to say that if it were about Guyana Times alone then the questions would have dried up, but members of the media noticed a barrage of new enterprises, all of which challenged established businesses. These enterprises share a common owner with the Guyana Times.
The press wanted to know if the entrepreneur got special treatment, given the ease with which these businesses came about.
The very press questioned other establishments. They questioned some contracts awarded by the government to people who have been known to do questionable work; they questioned private businesses that opened their doors when the proprietor was never known to be a man of means.
The establishment of Buddy’s International Hotel, now Princess International, attracted more questions that any other hotel in this country’s history. The proposed Marriott Hotel also attracted questions, some of which remain unanswered to this day. The press is still to know who the proposed investors are and how much money they would be bringing.
Similarly, the press questioned Makeshwar Fip Motilal’s award of a contract to build the road to Amaila Falls. They delved into his background and found that he had made numerous claims and promises. The claims could not be verified and the promises never materialized. Some of these promises date back to 2001 and included an agreement that should have seen the advent of hydroelectric power in Guyana five years ago.
And so we come to questions directed to the entrepreneur, Dr Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop. Dr Ramroop, by President Bharrat Jagdeo’s admission, is a close friend. This alone is enough to prompt questions as would be the case in any country. Reporters are quick to suspect some special treatment.
Dr Ramroop owns the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation, which is a major drug producing company. It did not escape notice that it got the lion’s share of awards for the procurement of drugs. For more than two years there were questions asked of Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy by both the press and the Parliamentary Committee that questions government expenditure.
I recalled asking Dr Ramsammy, way back then, about the sole sourcing and the absence of a tender procedure when it came to the supply of drugs to the Ministry of Health and to the Georgetown Public Hospital. Way back then, he said that Cabinet granted approval for such a procedure but that the time has come for his Ministry to cease.
The situation has not changed, however, except for some anti retroviral drugs that another pharmaceutical company in Guyana, International Pharmaceutical Agency, was asked to import and which attracted the threat of legal action against the Health Minister by the company.
Stabroek News approached Dr Ramroop, recently, on the issue of sole sourcing of drugs for the Ministry of Health and the Georgetown Public Hospital. As strange as this may seem, this honest line of question created rancor in Dr Ramroop.
Not only did he refuse to answer the newspaper but he was hostile to the point of accusing the newspaper and Kaieteur News of “being after his companies”. The conclusion is that these two newspapers have been asking too many questions about his operations.
I see nothing wrong with asking questions. I see a lot wrong with the hostility. Khurshid Sattaur has been known to ask questions about people who seem to have unexplained wealth. He has been known to hound others who failed to declare certain assets which later came to public notice. But Dr Ramroop is of the view that he should not be questioned.
He has acquired a television station, courtesy of Anthony Vieira and by extension, a radio station that Vieira once operated, courtesy of a court decision. President Jagdeo once said that television licences cannot be transferred and so it was that he prevented Chandra Narine Sharma from operating the television channels once operated by Sancharia.
But Dr Ramroop has renamed the television station he bought. One can only ponder at the licence. Is the licence in the name of enterprises owned by Anthony Vieira as it once was? The government is issuing no new licences and has not done so for years. Of course it broke the rules to allow Channel 65 and Channel 69 to operate when it said that it was granting no new television licences.
Has it done the same here for Dr Ramroop? But reporters will not get answers if they approach Dr Ramroop because once more he will accuse them of going after his companies.
What is unfortunate is that the reporters easily back down and people are allowed to get away with all manner of things. For now, they can only hope for the early introduction of the Freedom of Information Act.

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