Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Public Affairs, Kwame McCoy yesterday said that the media has unfettered access to President Irfaan Ali.
In a Department of Public Information (DPI) release he was responding to the editorial in the June 19, 2023 edition of Stabroek News captioned ‘Presidential press conferences’ and which decried the fact that President Ali had not been holding press conferences.
The DPI report said that Stabroek News was seeking to “create hysteria” over a subject matter already addressed ad nauseam by the government.
McCoy said that Stabroek News seems to believe it has the power to influence the policies of the Government.
“It would appear therefore that the editor and publisher of the Stabroek News have convinced themselves that they somehow hold sway in influencing policy in the cabinet of the elected Government of Guyana, as they seem to have arrogated to themselves, the right to determine how the president of the republic must comport himself, as regards matters of public communication,” the minister was quoted as saying.
McCoy added that the management of Stabroek News seems to have decided that the consistent, unhindered accessibility which its news staff and the entire local press corps, without exception, have of President Ali at all public engagements anywhere across the country, “does not accord with their modus operandi of a preference for staged press conferences in the posh air-conditioned confines of the presidential secretariat, as was likewise adumbrated recently by the president of the press association”.
The minister said that Stabroek News’ disposition is disingenuous, especially considering that press engagements vary across the world including the Caribbean.
He said that no universal law mandates the way government should interact with the media while reminding them that these engagements are at the discretion of government officials.
“They are well aware that while issues of press freedom and safety are accorded universal coverage and safeguards, there exists no universal convention which stipulates or mandates how governments should approach engagements with the press. They are also fully aware that such protocols and conventions are entirely at the discretion of individual elected leaders and their governments by extension,” he stated.
Since assuming office in 2020, DPI said that President Ali has held several formal press conferences and has never shied away from addressing questions from the Guyanese or international press.
DPI said that the editorial’s criticism of the president’s community-based outreach exercise at Parika is also mentioned, suggesting that the Stabroek News’ preference for exclusivity and luxury does not align with the president’s commitment to addressing the needs of the people.
DPI said that McCoy clarified that there is no executive policy mandating the president’s confinement to formal and scheduled press conferences. Instead, the president and his government remain accessible to the press through various means, including presidential and ministerial press conferences organized at their discretion. DPI added that Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo is also available to address questions from the press.
In a comment yesterday, Stabroek News Editor in Chief (EiC) Anand Persaud said that the newspaper stood by every word in the editorial. He said that when Minister McCoy refers to unfettered access to the President he must surely be referring to the friendly private media and captive state organs and not independent media like Stabroek News. He said there were numerous occasions when the newspaper had failed to have questions answered by the President.
Persaud said the evidence is clear that President Ali is refusing to hold press conferences in a flagrant departure from what democratic and modern governance should entail. Even on the sidelines of recent events, Persaud said that President Ali has declined to entertain questions when there are many pressing matters such as the dormitory fire that claimed 20 lives and the rape investigation swirling around Minister of Local Government Nigel Dharamlall.
Far from attempting to influence government policy, the EiC said that all Stabroek News was seeking on behalf of the entire media corps was President Ali making himself available to be questioned on the broad range of matters that he must be accountable to the people on as President of the Republic.
Persaud noted that the editorial in question listed just 15 questions which should be answered by the President and they were many more. He said that President Ali should be holding press conferences at least once per month.
The EiC said that Minister McCoy and DPI must have a read a different editorial as there had been no mention of the President’s engagement at Parika.
Persaud said it was passing strange that Minister McCoy would suggest that Second Vice President Jagdeo is available to answer questions when the Prime Minister and First Vice President, Mark Phillips – in whose office McCoy functions – should also be capable of answering the questions. However, Persaud pointed out that even so, Jagdeo would not be able to answer any question with the type of accountability attached to the presidency.
