President David Granger yesterday made a commitment to hold a press conference following his return from a Caricom meeting slated for July 4 to 6 in Grenada.
This will be only his second press conference since taking office in May, 2015 and it comes after being pressed on the issue for months.
Speaking to reporters at State House shortly after swearing in Dela Britton as the Chair of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), Granger said that when he returns from the upcoming Caricom Summit, he will have “a full press conference”. While he did not provide details on the summit and when it will be held, Stabroek News yesterday was able to confirm that he was referring to the Thirty-Eighth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government.
He also announced that he will resume his “regular”, `Public Interest’ programme. The last recording of this programme, which is supposed to be done on a weekly basis, was more than two months ago.
In January this year, Granger said that he is committed to ensuring that the media has access to him and said that while he will consider holding a press conference, he will continue to engage journalists when he meets them at functions.
These comments were made during a Public Interest programme on which Stabroek News was represented.
He was asked when his next press conference would be held and if it would become a regular feature of 2017. Since his election, Granger has held only one press conference, which was in October of 2015.
In response, Granger said that he has been engaging the media “frequently” through various means, thereby ensuring that questions are answered and the public is provided with information.
“I don’t have an objection to having a larger press conference. I have a very busy schedule… and it is very difficult to spend a lot of time with the media and I try to make it possible every week but if that is the desire of the Guyana Press Association, that can be arranged with my press team,” he had said.
He had said that the purpose of a press conference is to allow journalists to meet with the Head of State to find out his thoughts on a variety of subjects. He added that this is something he has been doing “faithfully,” while expressing uncertainty that other presidents both in Guyana and abroad, “engage the press as frequently as I engage the press. I try to make it as regular as possible and the function is to provide information to the public.”
According to the President, all journalists have access to him for most of the year. “I have been very faithful in answering the questions which have been asked of me and I think that is a good way to go. When the need arises, I don’t mind engaging the whole press but it does not necessarily mean that my engagement of one or two persons is inferior to my engagement of four or five persons or ten or twenty persons,” he had said.
The important thing now, he had added, was that the media has access to the Head of State and he will answer questions posed to him.
On May 2, the Guyana Press Association also called on the president to hold periodic press conferences of no less than one hour.
