Unfairness in the election has already started with the denial of opposition access to the state media

Dear Editor,

It was most alarming last Friday evening, October, 28, to hear US Ambassador D Brent Hardt on Capitol News stating that from all indications, general elections in Guyana this year will be free and fair.

The Ambassador is very much out of order in making such a pronouncement as the unfairness in the elections has already started with the government denying opposition parties access to the state media (NCN and Chronicle).

The electoral process starts well before elections day and all irregularities that occur before that date need to be taken into consideration before any pronouncement on fairness is made. Furthermore, NCN is paid for with taxpayer’s money, and is the property of the people of Guyana. It is presently being operated as though it is the sole the property of the PPP and espouses only propaganda coming from that party.

NCN is the only network that covers the entire coastland, and this gives the ruling party a significant advantage over the other parties, when only PPP propaganda is aired on this network.  This is unfair as well as undemocratic. Major opposition events are not carried in their news coverage, and whenever they are, they are always negative about the opposition. The opposition is never given the right to reply.

Opposition parties are perfectly right in refusing to sign on to Gecom’s Code of Conduct. The Ambassador should use his good offices to pressure the ruling party to open up the state media to all contesting parties. Time is already closing in on the elections.

Regardless of how smoothly operations go on elections day, this continuing denial has already taken away any semblance of fairness the upcoming elections may have.

Yours faithfully,
George Gomes