Dear Editor,
The Stabroek News appears to be waging psychological warfare against members of the Joint Services – particularly the Guyana Police Force. It has been doing so for quite some time. The key objective of this ‘psyops’ launched by Stabroek News is to weaken the esprit de corps of the Joint Services in general and the Police Force in particular. Apart from this key objective, other objectives include making the police feel guilty over its efforts to enforce the law as well as making the Force feel ashamed of itself and to weaken its will to carry on.
The culture of always seeking to apportion blame seems all pervasive. Criticism to destroy seems to be the order of the day rather than criticism to help improve and build to greater heights. If an avoidable death or error occurred because of lack of departmental training standards then it is for the Force to investigate such occurrence to benefit from an honest appraisal of the facts and for the individual or individuals involved to rise above the destructive effect of guilt as opposed to rationalizing guilt away.
The Stabroek News’ psyops against the Joint Services was clearly manifested as recently as Thursday July 5, 2012 where in a caption showing the recapture of the two escapees from the Mazaruni Prison; it was stated: “This photo raises question about the manner in which the duo was kept” The Stabroek News did not say what were the “questions raised” about the “manner in which the duo was kept.”
In this regard, the Ministry of Home Affairs would be happy to respond to whatever the “questions raised” might be. And since the Stabroek News has pretensions to law enforcement it must be prepared to answer certain questions which the Ministry of Home Affairs is prepared to put to that newspaper since it must not be allowed to escape accountability which is so much in vogue these days.
If government officials must be held accountable, then why shouldn’t newspapers like the Stabroek News? All must be accountable, not some. There must be no double standards on the issue of accountability.
Incidentally, with respect to the reason offered by the Crime Chief for the escape, the Ministry of Home Affairs has received a report from the Director of Prisons. The ministry will study the report and determine whether a Board of Inquiry is to be established to enquire into the escape. Until such time, the Ministry of Home Affairs cannot confirm or deny any public statement giving a reason or reasons for the escape.
As regards the “source close to the Prison” the Ministry of Home Affairs calls on the Stabroek News to publish the names of staff members of the Mazaruni Prison, the staffing establishment of the Mazaruni Prison, the months they worked overtime and the specific difficulties the staff has been experiencing in carrying out their duties. The Stabroek News must also provide the numbers showing the growth in the prison population and over what period of time that growth took place.
The Stabroek News must also state what specific complaints prisoners have been making about “the food they are being served” and what is the diet the prisoners have been receiving over the past three years.
I raise these questions because for too long sections of the media have been living like barnacles off ill-informed, speculative and mean-spirited “sources” of information, and this is what is being used to carry out psyops on sustained basis against the Joint Services of our country.
Yours faithfully,
Clement J Rohee
Minister
