Dear Editor,
General Secretary and would-be presidential candidate of the PPP, Donald Ramotar, seems to think that in some issues an informed public in a free society could be a pesky problem.
Regarding the issue of his party’s own gun-toting Minister Kellawan Lall, Mr Ramotar told the press that there might not have been so much of an outcry were it not for the Stabroek News providing a forum for the public to voice their adverse reactions to the minister’s deplorable behaviour.
Mr Ramotar believes the clamour of public outrage was more widely reported in the Stabroek News than in the rest of the media. (SN, December 25).
I hope that I have misunderstood Mr Ramotar; that he is not suggesting that absent a watchdog press some individuals’ public actions are beyond the reach of the law; that if there is no press oversight such select few will not be held accountable for their actions even if their participation is a grievous breach of ministerial responsibility and etiquette and even if such actions constitute a physical assault on citizens.
If anything, the coverage of the rum-shop brawl involving Minister Kellawan Lall shows the importance of having a free press in a truly democratic society. Govern-ment and PPP officials cannot blame the press for reporting true events even if the facts reveal sordid details they might have preferred to remain hidden.
Yours faithfully,
Justin de Freitas
