Dear Editor,
Ms Laura George, of the Amerindian Peoples’ Association (APA), has said repeatedly that she was misquoted by the Stabroek News when the newspaper claimed she said that the Amerindian Land Titling (ALT) project had been started under the David Granger Administration.
As Ms George has since stated, this is inaccurate – the project was started under the previous PPP/C Administration, and only re-started in the last year under the Administration of President Irfaan Ali.
Ms George has repeatedly stated – including on her Facebook page of 14th July, 2022 – that she asked the Stabroek News to correct its inaccurate report, but the newspaper has not done that.
Given that the Executive Chair of the APA, Ms Jean La Rose, was the Deputy Leader of the APNU+AFC list of candidates in the 2015 elections – and was subsequently appointed by President Granger to senior government positions – it is particularly important that the Stabroek News quotes Ms Laura George correctly when she is talking about the Granger Administration. Moreover, the Stabroek News journalist who wrote the article, Miranda La Rose, is the sister of Jean La Rose, the APA’s Executive Chair and parliamentary candidate for President Granger’s 2015 coalition.
Editor, can you please explain why the Stabroek News did not correct its publication after Ms George said she asked the newspaper to do this?
The APA receives a lot of public funding – including from Norwegian and French taxpayers. As with others who are paid from public funds, the APA, therefore, needs to be held accountable for telling the truth – and Stabroek News does the APA a grave dis-service when it implies that Ms George said something she did not.
It is not too late – can the Stabroek News please apologise for misquoting Ms. George and put the record straight about what she actually said?
Regards,
Thomas Cole
Editor’s note*: Upon further review of our interview with Ms Laura George, Stabroek News has verified that while she was not in fact misquoted in the article, `For 21 months, Amerindian Peoples Association has been unable to meet Minister Sukhai’, published on 22 May, 2022, her comments were presented out of context. However, she has since clarified that she was not referring to the Amerindian Land Titling project but in fact a major land titling project activity of the, APA funded by the International Land and Forest Tenure Facility. Hence her quote (“For example, we have like one major project that deals with land titling which was really like supporting the government’s programme of land titling or dealing with land issues. So that is one. It supposed to be done in partnership or collaboration with the government because that is the intention of the fund, the funders. This started under, during the coalition’s time. It took a bit to start off but eventually they all agreed that this is something, that yes, they will support”) was in reference to the APA’s work. These were two distinct activities and the article has since been updated online to accurately reflect this.
Stabroek News is also satisfied that Ms George did make attempts to clear up the misunderstanding with the writer upon the publication of the article on May 22, 2022, and regrets any inconvenience this has caused her.
*This note has been updated after further clarification.
