Ramotar demotes Chronicle Editor after ‘Jagdeo’ story

Mar 22, 2014 News

A front page story in the state-owned Guyana Chronicle yesterday suggested that former President Bharrat Jagdeo is the best choice for Presidential candidate in any forthcoming elections.

President
Donald Ramotar

That story has landed a number of Chronicle senior staff in hot water.
The headline, “Jagdeo favoured as PPP/C presidential candidate”, has led to one senior staff, Linda Rutherford, being replaced as acting Editor and demoted.
The Board of Directors is questioning how the story ended up in the newspaper in the first place.
According to the Guyana Chronicle article, a poll conducted by the combined Opposition revealed that in terms of popularity, Jagdeo is way ahead of candidates from both A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC).
The Opposition has since denied knowledge of the poll.
APNU Leader Brig David granger said that he never polled Jagdeo. Khemraj Ramjattan of the Alliance For Change said that it never even gave Jagdeo a thought after he left office.
According to the “poll”, Jagdeo is the one most favoured to be the PPP/C presidential candidate for the next general elections, “particularly given that election fever is in the air, brought on by the ongoing gridlock in the National Assembly.”
President Ramotar was not mentioned at all. A source close to the Office of the President said that President Ramotar accused the Chronicle of promoting mischief.
He said that Jagdeo is not eligible for any re-election, now or ever. The question of him ever being a Presidential candidate must have been concocted by a wild mind or by someone with a business interest.
The article appeared one day after the Guyana Times, a newspaper reportedly owned by Jagdeo and Dr Ranjisinghi Ramroop, carried one quoting unnamed Opposition sources on the polls and headlined, “Jagdeo most formidable candidate –

Bharrat Jagdeo

combined Opposition poll”.
How the article, along similar lines, ended up in the Chronicle was what the Office of the President wanted to know yesterday.
Kwame McKoy, a member of the Chronicle Board, was believed to have a hand in the publication in the Chronicle.
Office of the President believed that Jagdeo influenced McKoy.
Yesterday, Chamanlall Naipaul, the Acting Sunday Editor, confirmed that he was asked to take charge of the newspaper in place of Rutherford.
Mark Ramotar, the current Editor-in-Chief, is on leave.
With Jagdeo not eligible pursuing any other term as President under the Constitution, observers have wondered why the issue has surfaced again.
The ruling party itself has dismissed the possibilities of the former President running again, after he ended his consecutive two-terms in office in 2011.
The Jagdeo administration was plagued with accusations of corruption, poor management of state contracts, bribery and executive lawlessness.