Speaking on May 14th this year at a World Press Freedom Day reception, European Union Ambassador to Guyana, Fernando Ponz Cantó offered some sobering thoughts on the profession and its importance to the country.
Discarding his prepared remarks as he said that he wanted to say something that came directly from the heart, the Ambassador lauded media workers stating “The work you do is fundamental for a democratic society and Guyana needs you…You are the ones ensuring balance of power, transparency, accountability. All the good things that a democracy has to have”.
In the presence of the Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister, Kwame McCoy he also made a telling point: “I want to underline a few things. Press freedom is very closely related to independence, independence of the media. That is something very tricky because it doesn’t really mean public or private ownership. It means, in my mind, independence from pressure and pressure can come from many quarters. Sometimes it comes from the most unexpected direction and you the journalist are the ones who are in the frontline fighting that pressure in order to report facts and figures independently, neutrally and objectively”.
What the Ambassador said resonates with this newspaper’s experience in trying to elicit accountability answers from the Minister in the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar. Becoming aware of concerns about the minister’s possible connection to Western Logistics, a company providing services to the oil and gas sector, and the need to ascertain compliance with the code of conduct attached to the Integrity Act, the newspaper set about investigating the matter in February this year. A key aspect of its work was the accessing of documents from the Deeds Registry which were obtained after a wait of several weeks.
Two Tuesdays ago, the newspaper asked for a meeting with Minister Indar after advising him what the matter related to. On arrival at his office, the reporter was told to wait as he needed to contact his lawyer on the very matter. During the conversation, held in the presence of the reporter, he told the lawyer that the newspaper was in possession of documents stolen from the office of Western Logistics in Kingston and that the police would have to become involved to ascertain from the reporter the origin of the documents.
After having completed his conversation with his lawyer, the Minister then answered several questions from the reporter about Western Logistics while at the same time continuing with his claim that the documents had been stolen. He later contacted an official of the company in the presence of the reporter and said that the official would have to contact the police in relation to the matter.
Before the reporter left his office, the minister once again warned that the police would visit to speak with her to which the reporter’s rejoinder was that the police would be speaking not to her but to her superior.
Two detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department of the Brickdam Police Station duly visited the newspaper’s premises on Robb Street to question the reporter on the matter but she was not present at the time. They made a second visit a day later at which point they were spoken to by the Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper and the origin of the document was explained.
The visit by the detectives was clearly linked to Minister Indar and constituted an overt attempt by him to intimidate the reporter and to interfere with the work of the newspaper. The Minister won’t succeed in his effort. He has since denied that he instigated the visit.
“I would like to state that I did not initiate, instruct, or use another agent or colleague to instruct the police to visit Stabroek News as they have accused me of doing”, he stated on June 19. The evidence says otherwise. How is it that within hours of the reporter’s visit to his office detectives were dispatched to the newspaper’s office? It is troubling that two detectives could be deputed so easily at the behest of a minister on what is a fool’s errand. Had the minister carefully examined the document which was in the possession of the reporter he would have seen the clear markings of the Deeds Registry.
So while President Ali and his government boasted of an unprecedented conference in May to honour the virtues of press freedom and openness it is clear that this message has not been absorbed by this minister and others who have been treating inquiries by the media and the public with disdain. If President Ali really wants the public to believe that he is serious about respecting press freedom then it is advisable that he uses his next Cabinet session to make it clear to all of his ministers and senior functionaries that the role of the press must be respected and the resort to tactics such as those employed by Minister Indar is unacceptable.
The Communique issued by the Commonwealth Heads of Government on Saturday at the end of their summit in Kigali, Rwanda and which was attended by President Ali stated: “Heads stressed the importance of the right to freedom of expression through peaceful, open dialogue, and the free flow of information, including through a free, independent, responsible, and pluralistic media, and committed to enhancing democratic traditions and strengthening democratic processes”. These are sentiments that should be given full expression here.
There are still questions for Minister Indar to answer. Who are the beneficial owners of Western Logistics and what role, if any, does he play in relation to the company. A document in possession of the newspaper showed that he signed as a Director of the company in October of 2020 even though he had been appointed as a minister in August 2020.
Stabroek News will continue to investigate this matter but it is also in the government’s interest and for public accountability that efforts are made to have a full disclosure by Minister Indar.
