Dear Editor,
I have refrained from commenting on the allegations of attacks on the free media in Guyana. Much has already been said, written and read. After reading an article in Stabroek News edition of Saturday, February 17, 2007; titled “Jagdeo should step back to avoid dark old days – Trinidad Guardian”, I felt compelled to make the following statements:
Like some commentators on the issue, I feel that a pro rata allowance of the publication of Government advertisements should be placed with each Daily. This can be attempted with the share that each Daily holds in the national circulation of Dailies. This will by no means be a strict and fair method but at least it will strive towards the economic viability of all Dailies.
Withholding of Govern-ment advertisements should not and I do not think is perceived as an attack on the free media in Guyana. I really feel that some parties are dramatizing and sensationalizing the issue. The free media has matured a long process since the prior administration.
Growing up in the Guyana in the “dark old days” which the Trinidad Guardian speaks of in its editorial, I do not recall when anyone in Trinidad, Barbados, Jamaica or anywhere in the West Indies, offered a whisper on the blatant abuse of government powers in the period of 1ate 1950’s to 1992. It is important what people have to say but what is most important is what they have to say and what is done about it. Had we had these kinds of “watch dogs” that we have today, Guyana would not have today been the ridicule of these very people. What is fair is fair and what is right is right. There is no compromise.
I have been offended by some of the criticisms hurled at the Guyana Government by this and other publications. I have been offended deeply by some of the care-free and sensational reviews of Guyana, which appear on the World-wide Web. This demonstrates that anyone can go out there and write anything. Nevertheless, I continue to read the Stabroek News each day, along with other Dailies. Objectivity means a lot and nation-building is not hinged on criticisms and division. There is no room for reprisal in Guyana. Every ounce of time and energy must be used for recovery of lost opportunities.
The Government has to be careful and it is time to sound a warning. The Government of Guyana needs to modernize, become efficient and lean. We need educated and qualified people in key positions. The President needs to watch for “opportunists” and weed them out like dandelions. The biggest part of the warning is “Tread cautiously and do not become an authoritarian administration. Watch the element of eliteness”. Sometimes, I wonder about the quality of advising that the Government possibly receives. It is unfortunate that so many sons and daughters fled to distant lands and now have roots of children, property, investments, employment, etc., which are not easy to leave and come back to make their contribution. Personally and like so many others whose names I see in these letters every day, in the context of Guyana I feel so handicapped not being able to contribute. We all live in hope that circumstances may change and we can all one day look back and feel gratified that our country is where it needs to be.
Yours faithfully,
Sase Loaknauth
Washington D.C.,
U.S.A.
Editor’s note
It is completely inaccurate to say that the regional media did not criticise the lack of press freedom under the Burnham regime. The writer only has to read the book of the late Father Andrew Morrison S.J. “Justice: the struggle for democracy in Guyana 1952-1982” to discover the facts.