The public needs the President to explain

Feb 05, 2021 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

The PPP/C Party on being sworn into government last August, stressed the importance of transparency and, legally elected President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, impressed the nation and the international community with a commitment to work for the people and by the people in the interest of the nation. One of his goals is to eradicate corruption and plug all loopholes created by the previous administration. In this process, he intends to undo the discriminatory practices and replace them with impartiality. Fairness and equal treatment was a missing link from the APNU+AFC Party government. As per the Transparency International 2020 Corruption Index Report, Guyana placed 83rd on a list of 180 countries, scoring 41 points out of 100. It gained one point over the previous year, thanks to the PPP/C government replacing the polluted Granger government in the latter part of 2020 and putting a stop to them raping the treasury and their wholesale misappropriations. There has been tremendous abuse in the systems deployed by the previous government and only now, audited reports are revealing the miscreants and the horrific findings. The Granger government has enjoyed mismanaging the economy, misspending funds, wasting taxpayers’ money and taking advantage of all avenues for personal gains.
The PPP/C Party came into government legitimately, according to the will of the people, much to the relief of the nation and the world at large, and with the promise of much hope and faith. It has been six trying and testing months now, still young and with a youthful team of officers. It is still a learning experience for many who are subject to a different level of exposure and will make mistakes and errors in this process. It is for the experienced players to limit this mishap and oversee their decisions. Unfortunately, the PPP/C government cannot afford errors and faults and will be examined with heavy scrutiny and through the eyes of meticulous criticism. There have been pros and cons, the upside and downside, much accolades and condemnations. Luckily, one of the highlights remains the continuous reaching out to communities by all the ministries and their personal visits to far-reaching areas to discuss the people’s problems and complaints. This is not only commendable but encouraging and necessitates the overwhelming presence of that personal touch to care and share with all levels of the public.
The past government was plagued with the abomination of APNU+AFC domination of state machinery and control of the state media. This was conveniently used and abused for party, personal and political propaganda purposes. They were also plagued with the censoring of equal, fair and honest dissemination of information and the press victimisation. Their dictated attitude seldom afforded open interaction with all the newspapers, radios and TV stations. Freedom of speech is guaranteed in the constitution and the troubled past is an undesirable avenue this government can afford to replicate. President Dr. Irfaan Ali recently held his first press conference of the year and apparently, it was not an all-inclusive invitation. Rather, it was an exclusive engagement for the state and the private news agency, excluding many leading media houses. Regardless of the agenda, this is a poor reflection of choice and exposes prejudice and jamoon picking from the government. For the past two years, most of the overlooked and uninvited media houses, championed the PPP/C’s cause and helped to expose the malfeasance of the APNU+AFC government, especially during the election period. Newspapers must be allowed to express their opinions within the confines of the law and to report their facts as per their findings. For this government to do otherwise, then, this nation will be following dictatorial autocracy and stifling the consciousness of the meaning of freedom once again.
Being the first press conference, the nostalgia of exuberance and pomp should have provided an ambience for great hope and expectation. One would have envisaged the special care and attention would have been paid for inclusivity rather than separation and favouritism. The number restriction for the observation of the pandemic protocols cannot be used as an excuse, nor the excuse of oversight, in particular when the Guyana Press Association was invited to address the elite gathering. It is rather unfortunate also that so far, there has been no mention by any of the press releases, quoting the GPA’s condemnation of this mishap. Did she condone this action or perhaps, didn’t think much of it to make a comment? Hopefully, the GPA will remain an agency worthy of its true purpose and be truly representative of free speech. The President needs to provide a valid explanation to the nation, not to appease the papers but to satisfy the nation with an acceptable interpretation to this omission or judgment. This type of adversity or blunder speaks ill of a government who is determined to promote transparency and remain in the limelight of truth and honesty. The honourable President is already asking for the support of the public for a second term. The year 2024 is much closer than what four years may literally seem to be! The public wishes not to be disappointed and awaits a much needed answer.

Respectfully,
Jai Lall

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