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Publishing quandary

Apr 22, 2011 Editorial

This newspaper has taken a deliberately low-keyed approach in publishing remarks allegedly made by ACDA official, Mr Tacuma Ogunseye, on their pre and post-election predictions and exhortations. We adopted this policy for several reasons, not the least being that we wanted to verify the veracity of the said statements. Not substantively, but whether as a matter of fact they had actually been uttered. This has now been confirmed.
Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon, raised another concern when he criticised the publishing of Mr Oguyense’s utterances and conveyed his employers’ concern over, “the looseness (and) lack of professional approach by media houses responsible for publicizing this event.” The good doctor then pronounced magisterially on the motives of those media houses: “Some people seem to feel that it is their God-given right to make Guyana appear to be different and to relish in the apparent failure and awkward behaviour of Guyanese.”
Even as we note that it was the state-owned and tightly controlled Chronicle that gave nationwide circulation to the statements which Dr Luncheon judged to be, “clearly playing on racial insecurity and incitement”, we believe that the good doctor has misread the concerns of all good media practitioners. In our estimation, this had to do with the possible impact of such statements in our concededly volatile political atmosphere. And we believe that rather than the “statutory coercion” – read “censorship” – threatened by the Cabinet Secretary, the decision to print or not should be left to the media.
The instant case is as good as any to illustrate the pros and cons on the issue. In addressing the public meeting (presumably sanctioned and monitored by the police) Mr Ogunseye was speaking on behalf of his nationally-recognised organisation that has been operating in Guyana with extremely high visibility for almost two decades.  Referring to the upcoming elections, he said: “If we win, we sharing the government with them but we also have to tell them that if we lose, we are going to fight and bring Guyana to a halt until we have a national government in which the representatives of African people and the combined opposition is part of parliament; Comrades, we are announcing the riot act.”
ACDA has consistently expressed the view that the present majoritorian electoral system worked to exclude Africans from the executive branch of government and that only “shared governance” would deliver an equitable outcome. The question was always as to what route ACDA would seek to implement its vision. “We are going to fight and bring Guyana to a halt…we are announcing the riot act,” seemed rather ominous to us.
What added to our trepidation was his allusion to the ethnic makeup of the Disciplined Forces when he boasted: “Once the African people rise up in their great numbers, I dare the army to take the side of the PPP and against Africans. Our sons and daughters would not do that.” This position seemed to give credence to those who had long argued that the ethnic composition of the Forces gave strategic advantage to Africans in any political struggle, and we felt was sure to raise an issue that the nation has, at great cost in time and resources, addressed via its Disciplined Forces Commission.
The evident call for extreme action was encapsulated in the statement: “Come elections night when the results come out, Africans must have a share in the government, there must be a national government or there will be no Guyana.”
So should such a call to action have been published? We believe the answer is, “Yes.” ACDA is no fly-by-night organisation. Whatever its membership base, it is the most visible African organisation in the country and routinely receives public funding. Its position deserves to be heard by the wider public, which could be in a better position to judge its goals and methods of achieving those goals.
History has conclusively demonstrated that when societal resentments and hurts are aroused, it is best to let them be exposed to the light of public scrutiny, rather than have them fester in conspiratorial darkness, only to explode later like a sore.

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Publisher’s Note

Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.

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