Dear Editor,
On Thursday, September 12, 2024, an article was published in the Stabroek News captioned: “GMC manager says she launched an audit of irregularities.” The article states, “Lall said she launched an audit after noticing irregularities between the accountant and the special projects manager (SPM).” According to the article, Lall stated that the statement from the ministry, which confirmed that there were no irregularities in the operations of the particular unique project, is incorrect. On that same day, the Kaieteur News also published a lengthy article with a more sensational headline, titled “Massive fraud uncovered at GMC after general manager ordered audit, probe – accountant, special projects manager fingered.”
This Kaieteur News article was laced with multiple allegations by Ms. Lall against two officials at GMC, the accountant, and the special projects manager. According to the KN article, the GMC manager informed the newspapers, “At least two staff members of the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) are under investigation after senior management uncovered a massive fraud at the entity which falls under the Ministry of Agriculture.” The article stated, “Ms. Lall said during the internal audit, she identified significant irregularities and discrepancies involving the accountant and the Special Projects Manager.” These allegations can and have attracted all sorts of political and otherwise attacks against the character and integrity of the two people Lall identified in her claims. It is somewhat disappointing that news agencies that deem themselves involved in journalism or call themselves independent media would engage in such poor, lopsided, unethical, and libelous practices.
I read these articles thoroughly to ascertain whether any of these newspapers made any effort to at least attempt to reach out to the accountant or the special projects manager before they published such one-sided and dangerous allegations against the two people identified in their article. Unfortunately, I found none! Is this what professional and responsible media do? I think not! According to the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), journalistic ethics require that news organizations meticulously work to identify and seek a response from the subject of a news coverage to allow them to respond to any criticism or allegations of wrongdoing being made against them. For decades now, both Stabroek and Kaieteur News claimed to be “real” news outlet that seeks to report news factually and ethically, but this unethical, unverified, reckless, dangerous, and irresponsible article explains why many would think that this article was done to satisfy the GMC boss, Ms. Lall, who happens to be the daughter of the owner of Kaieteur News.
This brings me to my second point about journalistic ethics and the failure of these two papers to adhere to the fundamental rules that underscore such ethics. SPJ also demands that reporters publishing stories that involve claims of wrongdoing by others double-check facts and include supporting evidence gathered through reliable and independent sources (meaning more than one source). The aim is to corroborate the stories to ensure they are factual and not based on malicious intent, hearsay, abuse of power, incompetence, or other ill intent. As I read these libelous pieces in the newspapers, I diligently looked for specific details to support the claims made by Ms. Lall in the press but found none. Doesn’t Kaieteur News have the right and responsibility to provide details of this “significant wrongdoing” of which their heir claim exists?
I have a history of writing letters to the editor of both Kaieteur and Stabroek Newspapers. I am grateful that, over the years, both have allowed me to express my opinion on matters I consider national importance. However, none of these papers have ever published any letter they believed might have crossed that threshold of free speech to making libelous claims. So, the question is why both newspapers would publish Lall’s lopsided story that implicated two people without first seeking to hear from these two officers. Recall that the newspapers carried this story as a news item, not a letter to the editor. Therefore, that fact also should have impressed those news entities to do extra due diligence to ensure that others are not harmed. So, did the newspapers make a difference to Lall because she is the daughter of the owner of Kaieteur News or GMC’s manager (boss lady)? Whichever of these was the rationale for carrying this lopsided and dangerous article would be considered grossly unethical or a phenomenon akin to “yellow journalism.”
Were Ms. Lall’s position of power and access to her family’s media and friendly media outlets some of the factors that influenced the editors of these newspapers to ignore basic journalistic ethics and run with this libelous story? These are some important questions that should be asked because Stabroek News and Kaieteur News used one person’s word, Ms. Lall, to attack other people’s reputations without even attempting to reach those people to at least hear from them before publishing Lall’s suspicious narrative. Interestingly, this story was still carried in the two newspapers even after the ministry that governs the agency that Ms. Lall oversees issued a statement denying any irregularities in the matter mentioned in the news report. This is why efforts should have been made to contact those identified in Lall’s story before any attempt to publish her side since there are two opposing positions.
In the interest of full disclosure, let me state that I know the accountant personally. This person has been an accountant at the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) since 2007 and has worked under different administrations and with different managers, none of whom has ever made any allegations against him because he plays squarely by the books. Before GMC, this very person worked as the accountant for significant companies and entities with budgets approximately fifty times larger than GMC and has managed a major private corporation and operated at some of the highest levels of management. While in those roles, his reputation and professional conduct has never been attacked. This accountant is a capable professional with unblemished accounting and managerial records. His accounting practices reflect not only his deep knowledge of accounting procedures but also represent the hallmarks of a good accountant. It is this same accountant whom Lall praises for stabilizing financial practices and who efficiently deputized for her numerous times. It is, therefore, unclear what might have motivated Ms. Lall to make such libelous claims against these two staff.
My information is that there were many special projects managers (SPMs) before the current one whom Lall now accuses of engaging in irregularities; in fact, it was Lall who appointed the current SPM to that position. So, when did all these “irregularities” start? Is it just under the management of the current SPM? If so, for which specific period did Lall’s audit prove this happened? Fair, balanced, reasonable, and responsible journalism would ask these and other questions before publishing a “one source, one-sided story” where the storyteller is the boss of those she accuses of wrongdoing. The power imbalance between the person making the allegations and those she accuses should arouse interest on the part of any real media to investigate the allegations further to ascertain if the situation is one of the boss abusing her power to malign others. Good journalism demands more than one reliable source; it also demands a responsibility to protect the interests of those whom unverified allegations are made against.
It is also perplexing that the Ministry of Agriculture knows that Lall’s claims against these two people are false but fails to issue a forceful statement to push back against Ms. Lall’s claims. This fact highlights the probable political mess the ministry is in, and these things happen when nepotism becomes the order of the day. Whatever political fallout is happening within the Lall faction and the minister faction of the PPP ought not to result in the unwarranted and libelous attack on ordinary public servants trying to do their job. Unfortunately, the Stabroek News and the Kaieteur News have decided to pedal Lall’s narrative, which makes serious allegations against two people, probably aimed at destroying their reputations. I await to see the auditor general’s report on this matter. I am also waiting to see whether Kaieteur News and Stabroek News will project balance and publish this letter. The media is also responsible for protecting those against whom unfounded allegations are leveled.
Sincerely,
Lurlene Nestor