The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) says that the ban imposed on Capitol News journalist Gordon Moseley is “another manifestation of the Jagdeo administration’s “intolerance of opposing views” and its preparedness “to crush anyone who dares to function outside the parameters of blind loyalty to the PPP.”
The GTUC in a press statement on Friday expressed its grave concern over what it called “the recent attacks by the administration on media freedom.”
The trades union body also noted that when President Bharrat Jagdeo signed the Chapultepec Declaration in May 2002, it was felt that the young President had seen the light. “Now six years on,” the GTUC contended, “the same President, who is known to frequently emphasize his government’s commitment to freedom of the press and free speech, is reneging on his promise to create an enabling environment for the growth of democracy in this country.”
The GTUC quoted President Jagdeo as making the following statement at the signing of the Chapultepec Declaration at State House in 2002: “My government has never and would never seek to victimize, punish or in any way target media organizations simply because they do not share the government’s view on an issue. Such behaviour would be reprehensible to me personally….”
Since that historic signing, the trades union body said, it has seen “several attempts by the Jagdeo administration to instill fear and apprehension in the minds of media operatives.
And citing examples, the GTUC pointed to “callous and dismissive responses to enquiries of matters of public interest by President Jagdeo and his ministers, and answers that border on outright insults to members of the profession.”
The GTUC also declared that the withdrawal of government advertisements from Stabroek News for more than one year did not inspire a sense of hope among media operatives nor did the four-month suspension of the broadcasting licence of CNS Channel Six.
“And now this attack on a reputable reporter all goes to show what the Jagdeo (administration) thinks about the media. These people want a spineless media group and they are prepared to be predators of press freedom,” the GTUC asserted.
According to the GTUC statement, in his remarks at the government’s endorsement of the Chapultepec Declaration, President Jagdeo had said he would protect the right to freedom of expression and hoped that the Inter-American Press Association would help with responsible behaviour among media practitioners but the coordinator of the Inter-American Press Association’s committee on freedom of the press and information, Ricardo Trotti, had made it clear to the Jagdeo government that freedom of expression had to come before one could demand responsible behaviour by media operatives.
Lip service to
democracy
The trades union body sternly denounced the restrictions imposed on journalist Gordon Moseley in performing his professional tasks and declared that “threats to freedom of expression must not be taken lightly – not by the media and not by the public. It is time to step up the pressure on the regime to come clean and stop giving lip service to democracy.”
The GTUC is also demanding an impartial enquiry into the killing of Edwin Niles who was an inmate of the Camp Street Prison in Georgetown.
It is becoming increasingly clear, the GTUC argued, that because of official collusion some members of the Joint Services think they can torture and maim citizens and get away with it.
According to the GTUC, the Guyana Prison Service has an obligation to explain to the public the conditions under which Niles met his death.
It further contended that had the Jagdeo government made public the torture report which dealt with the alleged torturing of two army ranks, the perpetrators of the slaying of Edwin Niles might have been discouraged from taking that course of action as prison authorities would have received a clear message that torturing would not be tolerated.
The trades union body denounced what it called “this terrible slaughter of another young person,” and called on the administration to make public the torture report without further delay.