Words of praise for Minister Volda Lawrence

Dec 06, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

The suspicious relation between the sword and the pen will never go away from civilization once power exists. Power is inherently destructive. It stops good people from remaining good. It tempts innocent humans to go beyond the logical, rational and acceptable. It has a way of transforming you, with or without your consciousness and before you know it, your metamorphosis is complete; you will never be the same again. It turns bad people into monsters. Once power is acquired, hubris, hauteur, pomposity are not far behind.
Civilization is a few thousand years old and very few rulers have insulated themselves from the dangers and temptations inherent in power. In modern times you can count them on your fingers. I can only cite Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Olaf Palme of Sweden, Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic, and Pierre Trudeau of Canada. I think they were successful in resisting the lure of power.
Because of the innate negatives of power, the press will never trust politicians. The question is not if there will always be a suspicious relation between media and rulers; there always will be.
Natural to the journalist, is the need to be vigilant with power. Power does not like to be criticized. Rulers live in a permanent world of paranoia. A little highlight of a misguided policy sends alarm bells ringing. For the ruler this could trigger bigger highlights then the domino effect comes in and power is gone.
This is my reading of Burnham’s attitude to Walter Rodney in 1974. Once Rodney came home and began to criticize some post-colonial policies, Burnham became jittery. One thing led to another. The rest is now history. If Burnham had just relaxed and take doses of Rodney in his stride, Guyanese history would have been different.
When Tony Blair gave up power to Gordon Brown, in one of his first interviews, he referred to the press as feral. Blair was pursued by the press over the Iraqi invasion and he felt the press weakened his standing in the UK and the world. The truth is, Blair was feral in the exercise of power. Look of all person who was calling the press feral? Blair deceived his country and the world over Iraq and he never forgave the press for exposing him.
Guyana is replete with countless examples of the suspicion between the press and the status quo. It was one of the WPA leaders, Tacuma Ogunseye, who accused the media of inventing the Harmon scandal. Ogunseye sees a media conspiracy in every story that exposes the wrong-doing of the APNU-+AFC. And why does he behave this way? Because of the domino effect.
No one wants the PPP back in power so if you keep lamenting the wrongs of the government, you are going to weaken it and the PPP can return. It hasn’t occurred to Ogunseye that the press does not have to weaken the Coalition Govt.; it is doing that to itself.
I will dwell on the implementation of VAT on electricity in a forthcoming column. It is with this kind of fear by the establishment the media will be seen as feral. Make no mistake; the accusations of the media inventing stories about the Coalition will hit the road sooner than later. Such is the nature of the relation between the Fourth Estate and state power.
I am certain I have irritated readers by no reference as yet to the caption of the column. Last week about 6.15 A.M., the sleep of my wife and I was interrupted by the phone. It was Minister Volda Lawrence on the line. When I told my wife who it was, the visible signs of annoyance disappeared. The Minister called in reference to my column on the mistreatment of old age pensioners in Suddie. She said she is moved by what some of these pensioners have to go through and she intends to put systems in place to stop it. She said she is feverishly working on it.
I commend the Minister for her positive attitude towards the press. If Minister Lawrence had committed a public indiscretion, she would have been featured in my column. It is only fair and decent that I extend my gratitude to her for making contact and offering a sympathetic ear. She deserves to be congratulated on a new attitude that we are yet to see emerge from the power structure in its dealings with the press. I hope Ms. Lawrence strengthens this attitude because it could only help her to be a better politician and Guyana needs better politicians.

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Words of praise for Minister Volda Lawrence

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