With government failing to hold a post-Cabinet press briefing in the 11 months since it assumed office, President Irfaan Ali on Friday said press releases would soon be issued.
Questioned by Stabroek News on the sidelines of a sod turning ceremony on Friday, Ali reiterated that “We are operating in a COVID environment.”
However, the administration’s failure to hold post-Cabinet briefings has raised concerns over a lack of transparency in its decision-making, including huge procurement deals.
In April, during a press conference held at State House, Ali had noted that the pandemic has had a major impact on the way everyone operated pre-pandemic and went on to assure that the matter of post-Cabinet briefings was being dealt with. He maintained that position on Friday, saying, “We are operating in a different environment… we are operating virtually.”
He, however, stressed that his government will be issuing press releases on the outcome of Cabinet meetings, while working to resume post-Cabinet press briefings.
In January, President of the Guyana Press Association Nazima Raghubir said that the failure to hold post-Cabinet press briefings was an unacceptable continuation of a precedent set by the previous administration.
“The government is using COVID-19 to avoid press engagements and they are using a precedent set by the Granger administration to respond or grant interviews to select media houses. They are also engaging with social media commentators rather than media houses just as Mr Granger and others preferred to speak to some social media commentators,” Raghubir had stated.
She had revealed that the GPA had raised the matter with government via Minister with responsibility for Public Affairs Kwame McCoy since December but received no response.
Ali was also asked about the lack of post-Cabinet briefings in December and at the time he said that the lack of formal briefings had not affected the public’s access to information on his administration decision making. “I think the one thing we have to do is keep in constant touch with the people. All aspects of all discussion from the Cabinet has been communicated to the people,” he had said then.