Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall has repudiated the notion that a political party can direct transfer of a budgetary allocation from the state media to another entity and regards it as a “a blow to democracy and violation of the constitutional rights of the citizens to receive government information,” the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.
He said it is an attempt to interfere with the government’s right to disseminate information about its work.
His remarks came in wake of the stated intention of the AFC to withdraw support for budgetary allocations to the state media entities, the National Communications Network (NCN) and the Government Information Agency (GINA).
AFC MP, Moses Nagamootoo, a former long-serving member of the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP), is reported in the media as saying that he will vote against the allocations for GINA even if it calls for shutting down the agency and NCN will also be dealt with.
This was after AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan proposed in the National Assembly that spending for three ministries be cut by about $3B.
GINA, a successor to the Ministry of Information that was headed by Nagamootoo at the time disseminates information on the policies and programmes of the government on a daily basis.
Nandlall speaking in an interview with NCN said the government of any democratic state has a responsibility to keep the nation informed of its business.
“The government’s business is not a private business, it is the people’s business because the government is engaged in an agenda that will impact and improve the lives of every Guyanese… it is the medium of a Government Information Agency… a government-run television station… newspaper, that are the accepted international mediums by which a government communicates with its people,” Nandlall said.
He made reference to Article 146 of the constitution which gives Guyanese the fundamental right to receive information which government has a right to disseminate.
