Everything is a state secret

Feb 06, 2011 Features / Columnists, My Column

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By Adam Harris

About one year ago, President Bharrat Jagdeo accused local reporters of being lazy. I remember telling some of my colleagues that the Head of State was correct. Indeed, the reporters were prepared to merely regurgitate what was told to them. There was no query or check. The reporters were lazy.
For example, the Minister of Health has repeatedly been talking about the decline in maternal mortality and in infant mortality. He may be correct, but none of the reporters has sought to verify his statements. Indeed, background information is not easy to come by. Officials sometimes treat them as state secrets. But there is PAHO and WHO which publish information on every country and has been doing so for years. The information is there, but we simply do not check.
This is made easier with the ready access to the internet, but we are too lazy to expend the energy. But to our defence, often, queries by some reporters are greeted with suspicion. The target of the query first wonders whether he must go into protective mode or whether he must first check all his sources to allay his suspicions.
However, the contention that reporters are lazy hit home hard. I did some analysis of what was appearing in the pages of the Kaieteur News and found that in many cases there were contradictory reports. For example, a Minister or an official Government spokesman would say something one week earlier, then do a volte face the next.
Reporters would have reported on the earlier statement and then carry the second statement without due reference to the first. It was as though nothing had happened. The mistake or distortion went unheeded and unchallenged.
Minister Jennifer Webster announced in the National Assembly, last week, that the computers that were coming to Guyana for the One Laptop For Family programme would cost $295,000 each. That was a stunning sum. Something had to be wrong but to their credit, the reporters went after the news rather than check the veracity of the information.
It is now history that the Minister admitted to making a mistake. I still cannot understand why her colleagues did not seek to correct her there and then when she made the first statement. The Finance Minister was there as was her other colleagues who were more integrally involved in the programme. The Finance Minister sat and said nothing. Neither did the others. They were like our reporters—either dumb or complacent.
However, the real issue here is the need to facilitate those reporters or media houses that are serious about protecting national assets. They want to give the public information about what is happening in their interest. Kaieteur News has taken on the mantle of public watchdog as every newspaper should. Its reporters have been constantly reporting on shoddy work by contractors. This was a case of tax dollars going down the drain or more specifically, into the pockets of the unscrupulous. The public suffered.
To correct this situation, Kaieteur News reporters took to investigating the cost of projects with a view to minimizing dishonesty and ensuring value for money. Since more often than not the contractors would maintain their peace, the reporters would be forced to go to the source.
Lo and behold, the sources would hide. A classic example involved the Amaila Falls road project. We knew that the government had awarded a US$15.4 million contract to Makeshwar ‘Fip’ Motilall to build the road. We knew the start-up date and we knew the projected completion date.
The start-up date came and went but getting a reason for the delay was like pulling teeth. Trying to ascertain if there was a change in the project schedule was worse. Right now, no one knows what is happening with the road and none of the officials is inclined to say. That is a state secret.
Some member of the parliamentary opposition asked the Home Affairs Minister about the criteria for issuing diplomatic passports. Believe it or not, the man replied, “That is a state secret.” That was arrogance to the highest.
We want the specifications for the computers that would be coming for the One Laptop Per Family programme. No one can tell us. I am not prepared to believe that we have planned a programme and we do not know what we are putting into it. Instead, the media are being attacked.
I can safely say that in the interest of the nation, we are going to find out everything about the programme and this has nothing to do with the pursuit of dishonesty. The public has a right to know what it is getting.
But even before the computer project, we sought information on the specifications for the foundation that is being built in Kingston to accommodate a set of Wartsila engines for the national grid. That too cannot be had, although the tender has been awarded and the contractor has been informed of what he has to do and of what is needed of him. He has the specifications, unless he is allowed to do his own thing.
If people conclude that the government is managing the country as though it is personal property then they cannot be accused of being malicious. I worked during the Burnham years and it was more or less the same attitude. I remember when the government was introducing national service. The point man was the late Kenneth King.
I knew nothing about what national service was so I asked him. He had just given me some questionnaires seeking information from the public about their concept. He could have told me that he was seeking to fashion the thing based on the public perception. He did not. He told me, “When we want you to know we will tell you.”
I became angry because I could not understand the arrogance. I cannot understand it now either. Kaieteur News had attracted lawsuits because it dared to question some contracts. People ran to the courts to complain that we were calling them crooks. We will defend those lawsuits.
I have been sued because I wrote that a woman who was a simple cashier with Guyoil was able to buy a house for $60 million. I have the transport and the facts on the purchase. Khurshid Sattaur promised to investigate at my request. To this day he has reported nothing. That is arrogance and he dares to threaten me with legal action when I point out his shortcomings.
On another occasion when Kaieteur News queried some land sales it was told that it could have put in a bid. It was told the same thing when it queried other contracts.
David DeGroot openly said that he would not disclose information about how much money he was charging President’s College for a security service.
Nothing is forthcoming, and persistent digging attracts the label of anti-government or anti-national. We feel that information about projects should be given to the public. We cannot get information about contracts on pharmaceutical imports because certain people are involved.
I remember ‘Bobby’ Ramroop telling Stabroek News that it, along with Kaieteur News, was after him and this was because we both asked certain questions and reported on information that we gleaned about his conglomerate.
If we live in a secretive state we should be told. If it is that we must wait on the state to provide information, we should be told; if it is that by asking questions we will be blacklisted then so be it.

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