Dear Editor,
As I watched Mr. Tony Vieira’s commentary aired Tuesday night (9th January, 2007) my heart sank. As a man of many years I am forced to sadly resign myself to the fact that democracy in Guyana will not happen in my lifetime. It is painful to hear how the PPP is using their parliamentary majority to legitimise their joy rides, spending sprees, and wanton misuse of the country’s money while the ordinary citizens count their years of misery, despair and hopelessness. As IndoGuyanese continue to give the PPP power which is misguidedly construed as carte blanche authority to abuse their public service responsibilities, all sense of inclusivity and a free society will be lost forever. Based on Mr. Vieira’s intimate role and well expressed account of the debates in parliament, by all measures parliament is ineffective. Make no mistake, even though the PNC- One G takes credit for causing the government to see reason and exempt some items from VAT, the government was merely engaging in a gesture of tokenism. If our parliament was a place for reasons, facts and logical debates then the PPP would not be so hardnosed to exclude the opposition’s proposal to revisit the National Development Strategy and other issues of national importance.
It seems as though the government’s tentacles of fear are spreading far and wide. The 25 percent lost revenue for VCT 28 with the withdrawal of the daily lotto drawing at the command of the government means that tyranny has returned to our shore. The independent media may well find that in their bid to survive they will have to toe the line, even if it means compromising media ethics and silencing dissent. It is evidently clear that the government is bent on bringing independent thinking and dissent to its knees in their desperation to control thinking and information flow. Since the government has inherited a free media environment it makes the task difficult and bothersome for them to shut down the ones they met in 1992. So what they are doing, for the private media that are independent, is to pull out all the stops to pauperise them and ensure their death.
Isn’t there something that can be done by the Stabroek News, VCT 28, CNS 6 and HBTV 9 who the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB) and President Jagdeo want to silence? Shouldn’t the possibility be explored to have complaints lodged with human rights bodies or media fraternity in the Caribbean or internationally. These media houses have a legitimate case to claim a threat to their freedom and economic survival. The society needs you; please don’t wait until you go under and become entirely powerless before you do something. Please explore your possibilities and options soonest.
The action by the government, ACB and GECOM to take Mr. C N Sharma and Mr. T Vieira to court are veiled threats to force compliance to government’s dictate of an information agenda. Private independent media survive on monies that come mostly from advertising. The various efforts of the government to dry up that source in addition to forcing these media houses to find legal fees for the courts will stifle their survival. The strategy is to attack independent media in phases. It will only be a matter of time before KN and other independent media outside Georgetown are targeted.
NCN is the state media and the government should not be allowed to continue to use it as the party’s machinery. In pre 1992 the PPP promised that an elected PPP government will not control the state media. The party and government are not one. The party serves a political interest and when the party becomes the government it has to serve the state’s interests. This means that all and sundry should be allowed access to the state media.
To Mr. Vieira I say keep the faith and fight. Thanks for restarting commentary and I look forward to more of your incisive analysis of what goes on in the legislature.
Yours faithfully,
Ainsworth Wong
