Spokesman for the opposition coalition APNU, Joe Harmon yesterday rejected a Guyana Chronicle editorial that among other claims, suggested that the opposition encouraged criminals and which urged the boycott of an unnamed bank.
Harmon called on the editorial board of the state newspaper to apologise and resign.
In a strongly worded statement, Harmon said that the July 17 editorial titled ‘Youth, politics and criminality,’ reflects “the PPP/C’s rapid, dangerous and destructive descent into irrelevancy and desperate race baiting.” Harmon asserted that the offensive editorial makes several claims which appear to serve no purpose “but to engage in the politics of fear by stirring up racial divisions and panic” among Guyanese.
This is not the first time that the state-owned newspaper has drawn criticism for offensive statements in its opinion pieces and other reports.
Harmon said that the claim in the editorial that the opposition encourages youth to engage in criminality rather than education, is false and slanderous and he challenged the editorial board to produce proof of their assertion or resign. The editorial also said that the USAID-funded $300 million Leadership and Democracy Project (LEAD) only provides training to