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Govt. spokesman regrets statements on MPs trip to India
DPI Director, Imran Khan
Government’s Director of Public Information, Imran Khan, has expressed regret over the comments posted via Facebook regarding Guyana’s delegation to the inaugural conference for People of Indian Origin Members of Parliament held in India earlier this month.
While Khan had maintained that he made the post as a private citizen and not as a public official, yesterday he indicated that on reflection, he appreciated how some persons could have come to have interpreted the post as being, in some way, reflective of an official position given the public office he holds.
“Such an interpretation was entirely unintended and I sincerely regret the furor which resulted. In retrospect, the post should either have benefitted from greater elegance or not have been made,” Khan stated via Facebook.
Khan’s post essentially questioned why no Minister of the Government was invited to be part of the India forum. He raised the issue of whether the Indian High Commission in Guyana was interfering in Guyana’s internal affairs and attempting to engage in destabilisation of the Coalition Government.
Khan succeeded in attracting the attention of India’s High Commissioner to Guyana, Mr. Venkatachalam Mahalingam, who described the comments as reckless in addressing such a serious issue on social media.
The High Commissioner stated that Khan’s comments were a clear intention to mislead the general public.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon had said that Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo would examine the matter. Guyana’s delegation was the largest and included 20 MPs, 17 from the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and three from the Coalition Government.
Khan stated that he noted that several persons interpreted that it was done in his official capacity and represented the views of Government of Guyana.
“As I have stated before, I did not express those views on behalf of the Department of Public Information or the Government. My remarks were made on my Facebook page in my personal capacity as a Guyanese citizen, and I claim full responsibility,” Khan stated.
The Director noted that overall Guyana and India continue to enjoy decades old excellent diplomatic relations and doubts that the post could have posed any danger to this.
“I sincerely regret the post and what ensued thereafter and wish to assure that it was, in no way, reflective, either formally or informally, of any position of the Government of Guyana,” Khan noted.
Some persons called on Khan to remove the post, including Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence.
“This is distasteful and not in keeping with how this Government treats their guests,” Lawrence stated in response to Khan’s post.
According to Mahalingam, many in the top hierarchy of the Government and Guyana High Commission in New Delhi are aware of the invitations from Government of India for 23 MPs and three Mayors of Guyana and the rationale behind inviting only those Persons of Indian Origin MPs who are not Ministers.
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