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Stabroek News EIC says Govt. behind his removal from BBC World Questions panel
(Kaieteur News) – Editor-in-Chief of Stabroek News, Anand Persaud, is contending that his removal from the panel of the BBC World Questions programme set to be recorded in Georgetown today was the doing of the Government of Guyana.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Persaud said the producers of the programme “caved” to pressure from the government and changed the panel for the show, which was originally announced last year but subsequently postponed.
“Good luck to the BBC World Questions panel tomorrow. Can’t help but feel that the producers caved in to pressure from the Guyana Government after the original panel was named for May 6th last year,” Persaud wrote.
Editor-in-Chief of Stabroek News, Anand Persaud
BBC Correspondent Jonny Dymond is set to chair a panel of leading politicians, businesspeople and civil society activists taking questions from a public audience and debating Guyana’s political and economic future. The initial panel included Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira; then Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton; activist and businesswoman, and Founder and Managing Director of Blossom Incorporated and Sispro Inc., Ayodele Dalgety-Dean; and Persaud.
“The government protested my presence on the panel – an attack on the right of the BBC programme to make their own decision. The government then tried to have a 5th person added to the panel – one of their private sector cronies. The government was apparently also disinclined to have the programme air just months before the general elections. The show was postponed just four days before it was to be recorded,” Persaud said.
He further stated that he was never informed by the BBC why he was removed from the panel. Dalgety-Dean will be the only returning panellist from the previously announced line-up, the new names include Finance Minister Ashni Singh, Opposition MP Tabitha Sarabo-Halley and Private Sector Commission Secretary Clinton Urling. The programme will be recorded before a live audience on Tuesday at the Pegasus Suites and Corporate Centre in Georgetown. BBC World Questions: Guyana is expected to be broadcast on the BBC World Service on March 14.
Guyana Times had reported that while the government welcomed the BBC’s interest in engaging with the Guyanese public and exploring the democratic and developmental issues facing the country, it raised strong objections to the composition of the panel.
According to the newspaper, Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Public Affairs, Kwame McCoy, had written to the series producer, Helen Towner, to register the government’s objection over the selected panellists, whom he said did not reflect a fair or balanced cross-section of Guyanese perspectives.
McCoy pointed to Dalgety-Dean and Persaud, stating that they are known to espouse positions that are overtly critical of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government and who, despite not being formally aligned with the political opposition, have publicly demonstrated strong anti-government sentiments. He added that their inclusion, alongside the Opposition Leader, compounded the imbalance.
“The panel, as currently constituted, is disproportionately skewed in favour of opposition and dissenting voices, while placing the Government at a numerical and ideological disadvantage. “We do not believe this reflects the BBC’s stated commitment to fairness, impartiality, and balanced debate. Nor do we believe this adequately represents the diverse and nuanced perspectives of the Guyanese people,” the correspondence detailed.
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