The Alliance For Change (AFC) on Wednesday sounded its condemnation of “the racist and divisive editorial” in the July 2nd edition of the Guyana Chronicle and called for immediate depoliticization and reform in the state media apparatus.
The AFC further demanded a full retraction of the editorial and an apology to all Guyanese, in particular African-Guyanese as well as a statement on the issue from President Donald Ramotar, in his capacity as Minister of Information.
The party stated too that it had a similar position on the issue as the Roman Catholic Church and all right-thinking Guyanese here and abroad.
The AFC asserted that under the PPP today there is a “prevalence of heinous anonymous writings, including scurrilous personal attacks on our citizens in the state media and on internet blogs (and) this is totally unacceptable and must stop.”
The opposition party noted that “the most shameless thing about this is that taxpayers’ money is used in this enterprise; we are paying for the fomenting of division in our own society and for attacks on ourselves!”
In that context, the AFC declared that there must be immediate reform in the state media apparatus along the lines of how the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) operates.
“We demand its immediate depoliticization and the establishment of a new board drawn from distinguished resident and non-resident Guyanese to oversee its operations. Finally, all hate internet blog sites, whether pro-government or opposition must be also shut down, with immediate effect,” the AFC insisted.
