Dear Editor,
The Guyana Information Agency (GINA), a government-controlled agency’s withdrawal of ministry advertisements from Stabroek News, I have to say, comes as no surprise to me. Stabroek News (SN) has been under intimidation from the government for some time. I wrote about this during the election campaign. The problem is, the government has become uncomfortable with SN raising critical questions concerning issues of governance and as such President Jagdeo began the verbal attack on SN. It was only a question of time before he and the PPP used the instrument of the state to attempt to punish SN.
This issue is not about the government’s right to advertise wherever it so please, as a columnist in Kaieteur News would like us to believe. GINA by its explanation for not advertising in SN, it seems, has used the competition between the two daily newspapers to drive a wedge in this issue, and unfortunately Peeping Tom has bought the bait. His criticism of SN for raising the issue of government’s use of GINA to supposedly punish SN, needless to say, is lacking in journalistic integrity and solidarity.
This issue is about a government believing that it can use the machinery of the state to intimidate and suppress freedom of the press, like it uses the machinery of the state to do whatever it pleases. This is nothing new, but nevertheless should not be tolerated. In more democratically entrenched societies where the state has less control over the media some governments use their supporters as instruments of intimidation by advising their supporters to stop advertising in particular print media/TV programmes, they perceive as being too critical of them. The government of Guyana, which has total control over state media and state resources has decided to use GINA to intimidate the media, in this instance SN. Previously the government had gone after Sharma’s channel 6 news. Guyanese should not wait to find out how far the government is willing to go to suppress dissent. I am afraid the Jagdeo administration has become intolerant of decent and critical questions. This attitude is dangerous for our democracy.
It is critical that Guyanese understand that this is not just about SN. This is about the threat to the democracy that we have fought for and won in 1992. The government has continued to use its in-built ‘ethnic majoritarian security’ to govern without consensus, to ignore the rule of law and to overrule consensus. The suppression of press freedom is usually the first line of attack in the emergence of an authoritarian attitude towards governance. I am sure that the withdrawal of the GINA ads will not cripple SN; however, Guyanese must begin to stand up for integrity in governance. The government cannot be allowed to use state machinery as equipment for punishment against those they perceive as too critical of them. In a democratic society the media is inherently a watchdog for the maintenance of state integrity; of good governance and of citizens’ freedoms. When the government begins to intimidate the media then democratic lawlessness begins. I must add that democratic lawlessness is the use of an elected majority to violate fundamental constitutional and human rights.
It seems that this administration has begun to use the loud silence and inaction in the society as an opportunity to test its authoritarian muscle. This must be stopped before Guyana returns to the Burnhamite era. The PPP has not committed itself to deepening democracy since it took office in 1992. The society must awake from its slumber and stop being complacent in governmental lawlessness.
Yours faithfully,
Dennis Wiggins
