The Guyana Press Association (GPA) has asserted its refusal to become a puppet of any political organisation and says it will not stand idly by as its members are attacked or defamed.
In a release on Friday, the GPA com-mitted to any scrutiny into its operations and stated its willingness to accept criticism. However, it drew the line at what it described as “baseless and defama-tory attacks” on members of its executive as well as colleagues in the media.
The GPA’s statement focussed on a letter penned by former president, Neil Marks, and published in Wednesday’s Stabroek News which the Association opined “has cemented the long held belief that Marks is no longer a member of the media but rather a political operative aiming to discredit the independent mem-bers of the press as well as the body he once represented for a few silver coins.”
The letter’s caption indicated that the current Council of the Guyana Press Association should excuse itself, to which the GPA responded by asking, “Marks wants the council to exclude itself for what he said is not holding elections for six years, but should he also excuse himself?”
The Association expressed its displeasure at Marks’ silence in the face of attacks on his press colleagues like the cyberbullying of Davina Bagot, the shooting of Travis Chase’s vehicle, and the continued harassment of Kaieteur News reporters. It noted that many of these journalists toil daily doing journalism for the greater public good “without rewards of state sponsored scholarships, pre-arranged state inter-views and trips and overseas travels under the guise of reporting.”
The release also took Marks to task for not standing in solidarity with his media colleagues, through the GPA, for a timely response by the Guyana Police Force in connection with sexual offence allegations against a senior member of the People’s Progressive Party, but opting “to do his master’s bidding and in so doing sully his own reputation as nothing but a super rank opportunist.”
It further noted that its colleagues in the media continue to straddle the news gathering cycle and all the challenges that come with it, including being ridiculed by “less qualified persons” as they remain committed to being the eyes and ears of the public.
Returning to Marks’ letter, the GPA observed that among the issues ventilated, was the matter of financial accountability, and the claim of the lack of a financial report, which the association stated, elicited some confusion as such a report was presented as part of the presidential report last year. It added that Marks knows more than anyone that the treasurer had resigned leaving a handful of documents and reports in a tattered envelope and with the help of its members, it was used to present a financial report.
This claim of financial irregularity prompted the release to suggest that instead, Marks should tell the public what he did with the financial reports that were submitted under his presidency and why those were not subjected to audits. He should also provide a full report on the hundreds of thousands of dollars he said he was robbed of and explain why he never reported this incident to the police.
The release went on to allege that Marks was an “absentee president” stating that the association’s records show that major events and planning for training were done by a handful of persons within the executive during his tenure. It was further alleged that Marks himself never turned up to one of the General Meetings called to hold elections, behaviour that the release termed as “strange.”
It noted that at that meeting, it was expected that the president would issue his report and the accounts of the organisation would be tabled. However, it disclosed that a lack of quorum caused the meeting not to be held, and the executive was forced to hold another meeting where Marks announced that he was no longer running for any position in the body. “That same absenteeism has found its way into the continued AGM, Marks was glaringly absent there too.”
Returning to the matter of the GPA’s finances, the release noted that the issue of audited accounts was not a new one for the association and informed that since the presidencies of Adam Harris, Julia Johnson, Denis Chabrol, Gordon Moseley, and Nazima Raghubir, this issue has been on the table.
It made the disclosure that the GPA has long been dependent on membership dues and has always had little funds and gave an instance of an occasion where the association had submitted its documents for audit to a local firm only to find out that the cost to audit was more than GPA had at that time. That however, the release assured, has changed over time and with small amounts of funding for training, the GPA has prepared and submitted financial reports to its membership including at its last meeting on May 14, 2023. “This is more than Marks had done when he accepted state funds for training under the coalition government.”
Iterated
The GPA iterated its commitment to auditing its accounts and noted that its membership had been briefed on the updates when the AGM continued last year, opining that Marks would have been present if he was interested in the GPA at all.
As it relates to the continuation of the meeting, the association said it was “baffled” that Marks would allege that the proposed draft constitution was not an issue raised and suggested be placed on the agenda of the upcoming meeting along with decisions for the auditing of the accounts. “It is almost as if Marks was not at the meeting ….”
According to the release, at that very AGM, it was discussed among the membership that several issues could not be addressed or dealt with since GPA membership needed to work on amending the constitution. Also, it was decided that amendments to the document would be circulated for comments from the membership and Marks agreed with a suggestion from the floor that the meeting be suspended to deal with the constitution at the continuation of the meeting. However, the association is yet to receive his comments on the draft amendments.
Continuing the point, the release argued that Marks himself would know, of the two GPA meetings he ever attended in his life (the one where he was elected and the one when he actually had to turn up to end his tenure) there is usually an effort to get members to attend these meetings. This is nothing new, it noted, as members turn out in their numbers to elections but it is usually a task to get members to other meetings like when there was no quorum during his tenure and absence. Ninety-six members turned out for a highly antici-pated election. That is what happened in 2023 and 70 members spoke through their votes.
Concerning the association’s elections, the GPA emphasised that its executive dealt with the issues raised in several statements and at its general meeting last year and stressed that no legitimate member of the GPA was excluded from voting. Further, the decision was taken to process all outstanding dues within a particular period which is not a new exercise within the GPA. “Marks would have known this if he had attended and was fully involved in the GPA. Marks continues to make baseless allegations against the executive and the elections process, a process in which he and a roomful of his colleagues attended.”
The release also addressed Marks’ claim that his “media house” had more than 10 legitimate members who were denied membership and advised that he submit those names with haste to the GPA since based on its analysis, the last media house Marks is known to be associated with, all of his colleagues were present and voted.
The GPA then turned its attention to what it sees as Marks’ continued attack on women in the media and communications fields, a course of action it condemns. It noted that in his letter, Marks continues to try to discredit the women on the executive knowing fully well that they remain employed in the media. He also named the executive member who worked at a government ministry more than four years ago, but failed to include that he shared an office space with the executive member, who alongside him was filing stories and anchoring the news. Marks was also accused of carrying out a campaign to discredit three members of the press, including a media worker who has a kitchen garden. “It is almost crass to think that Marks knows that this man is a longstanding member of the media but is trying to use this noble initiative to feed himself to discredit him and his work in the media.”
Diminishes
As far as the GPA is concerned, what diminishes journalistic standards is dishonest persons who pass themselves off as journalists while being “puppets for politicians.” Such are those people, it stated, who claim they want to represent journalists but fail to build credible and trustworthy relationships with the people they claim they want to represent. “Those are the people who side with and support attacks on journalists and journalism without raising a finger or pen in defense of journalists.”
The release ended by asserting that the GPA “shall never be handed on a platter to any agent to become a pliant and malleable institution at the behest of any political or other interest group that must either toe the line or become subservient or moribund.”
Marks in his letter has said that he was “compelled to point out the governance vagaries of the Management Council of the Guyana Press Association (GPA) based on its gross disregard for financial accountability, for the perpetuation of naked, grave and egregious breaches of the Association’s constitution, and the inherent democratic deficiencies of the current leadership.”
According to Marks, it has been more than a year since the Annual General Meeting (AGM), “curiously described as a General Members Meeting,” was called and the “scandalous” elections were held for a new Management Council. A meeting, he stated, held on May 14, 2023, “incredibly” has not ended, due to it being suspended to be continued later.
However, about a month later, the GPA announced that the meeting will continue on July 8, 2023 at the Theatre Guild in Georgetown. The agenda items included an “update” on the organisation and a vote on amendments to the GPA’s constitution.
In his letter, Marks argued that as per the GPA’s constitution, since these matters were not on the agenda for discussion at the May 14 meeting, the continuation of that very meeting cannot introduce new matters. As such he objected to the proposed idea of amendments to the constitution and it was agreed that this matter could not be addressed at the meeting because members could not possibly have been asked there and then to propose changes to the constitution and vote on it on the same day.
Marks noted, “The response to the call for a continuation of the meeting was abysmal. There was no quorum so the meeting could not go ahead. For reference, a quorum for such meetings is quarter of the voting membership of the Association and at the elections 96 members voted. Despite all the machinations it deployed to get 70 votes, it could not persuade 25 persons to show up for the continuation of the meeting.”
The letter continued that the GPA, in a July 8, 2023 statement posted to its Facebook page, said that since there was no quorum, the Council opted to have a brief consultation on proposed amendments to the GPA’s constitution, and claimed that “a number of members from various media houses provided suggestions,” suggesting some sort of broad-based consultations.
The writer pointed out that there is yet to be announced a new date for the continuation of the meeting and expressed alarm that one year after it started, the meeting is yet to be concluded. “Editor, what makes this more incredible is that this is the first meeting of members being held in six years – yes, the first and only! Doesn’t this signal great apathy among members? Doesn’t it signal that members do not want to get involved in the shenanigans of this current Council? Isn’t it time that this executive excuse itself?”
