Guyana Chronicle has become a compromised political mouthpiece of APNU+AFC

May 08, 2020 Letters

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Dear Editor,

To put it mildly, the Guyana Chronicle has gone to the dogs. There is not even the slightest attempt by the editor of this PNC/APNU mouthpiece to be impartial. An editorial is an article that presents the newspaper’s opinion on an issue. Editorials are meant to influence public opinion, promote critical thinking, and sometimes cause people to take action on an issue. The editor of a newspaper that wants to be taken seriously as a source of credible news must aspire to impartiality, open-mindedness, and intellectual honesty. The freedom of expression an editor enjoys requires a moral fibre and trustworthiness to uphold the truth, something sadly lacking by those who write the editorials of the Guyana Chronicle.

In 2019, the de facto Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo reconstituted a new Board of Directors of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited (GNNL) after the former General Manager, AFC’s Sherod Duncan, was fired for several breaches of financial regulations costing the company millions of dollars that were never recouped from Duncan. Nagamootoo, who turned a blind eye to Duncan’s mismanagement, tried to reverse his firing. As a result, the former Chairperson of the Board, Geeta Chandan-Edmond along with three other board members eventually resigned. This resulted in the appointment of the current board of APNU+AFC lackeys that includes Ganesh Mahipaul, a PNC Information Officer of the Region Three RDC who also has serious credibility issues. With Mahipaul now acting General Manager at the Guyana Chronicle, he is using the editorial department to carry out the agenda of the PNC to mislead the nation by accusing the PPP/C of rigging the 2020 elections. And it appears like the Chronicle’s editor-in-chief, Nigel Williams is a willing participant who must take full responsibility for the PNC/APNU propaganda that is published in this rag on a daily basis with taxpayers’ money. Dishonesty, lies and deception are now the hallmarks of the Guyana Chronicle.

So much so, even PNC/APNU candidate James Bond on his Facebook page recently stated, “I am not in agreement with the state media being used as a weapon! Whether it’s the Chronicle or NCN, do not weaponize the state media. Feel free to do investigative journalism, feel free to dig deep into the recesses of corruption and the ills in society but do not allow the state media to attack individuals for the sake of attacking individuals! We can do better and we must do better!”

Bond is smart enough to know his party was solidly defeated on March 2, and may now be desperately trying to salvage what’s left of a once promising political career. And so, I now come to the purpose of this letter, which is in response to an absurd editorial that appeared in Tuesday’s edition of the Guyana Chronicle captioned, “Why the PPP is terrified of an audit”. Whoever the moron is that wrote this piece of garbage must have been living in the same cocoon as David Granger since the government fell on December 21, 2018.

This diatribe was so badly written and filled with venom that it could not possibly have been written by a career journalist. The editorial begins, “While it has always been obvious that the PPP does not want to have a thorough and comprehensive examination of the results of the March 2 General and Regional elections, it is now becoming increasingly evident that the PPP is utterly and desperately terrified of a full recount and forensic audit of the elections. It is possible to determine the reason that the PPP is terrified of a comprehensive audit if one examines the auditing process, and the fact that a full examination will definitely reveal skullduggery and fraud.”

It was the GECOM Chairperson, Claudette Singh who gave the assurance to the Chief Justice that she will facilitate a recount of the votes. That means a recount of the votes cast, not a forensic audit of the elections. Except for the APNU Commissioner, Vincent Alexander, no one ever called for a forensic audit and no decision was ever made by GECOM to do an audit of the ballot boxes. It is not provided for in the law and was merely a ploy by Alexander to further frustrate and delay the recount.

The editorial continues, “In other words, they (the PPP/C) just want the ballots to be counted, and nothing more. They do not want all the contents of the ballot boxes to be scrutinized because… the PPP heads know that such a review will reveal their dirty hands; an audit will disclose their dishonest ways, and their rigging of Guyana’s elections. Further, the PPP heads are running around even faster, trying to prevent the use of the list of electors in the recount, because they know that, the voters’ list, when it is compared with the numbers of ballots in the ballot boxes, will clearly show that the PPP stuffed ballot boxes, when, in truth, no one voted.”

In fact, Section 89(2) of the Representation of the People Act is very specific in how a recount is to be conducted by GECOM, what is relevant and what is not. It states, “The returning officer shall not open the sealed packets containing tendered ballot papers, marked copies of the official list of electors or part thereof or counterfoils of used ballot papers.” The violation of this section of the Representation of the People Act by GECOM is exactly what former Attorney General Anil Nandlall warned about that is now responsible for the snail’s pace recount procedure now ongoing at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre.

It was not the PPP/C who refused to publish their copies of the Statements of Polls (SOPs) in their possession, which would have ended this political quagmire a long time ago. And do you recall whose signature appeared next to Mingo’s on the Region Four unverified declaration form to force the illegally swearing in of David Granger for a second term? Oh yes, this document was signed by Volda Lawrence, the PNCR Chairperson herself, yet we’ve heard repeated claims by Granger that his government and ministers have never interfered with the work of GECOM. And of course, it was definitely not the PPP/C who shamelessly used the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent the Carter Center from returning to observe the recount.

The APNU+AFC have tried every dirty time-wasting trick to prevent this recount in order to protect their own self-interest. Every effort to prevent and later delay the holding of election constitutionally due since March 21, 2019 was planned and executed by the PNC/APNU+AFC. Everyone knows it. Changing the narrative now to make David Granger look like an altar boy will fool no one.

Harry Gill
Former PPP/C Member of Parliament

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