The government is accusing the Stabroek News of being unpatriotic in the run-up to Carifesta X and flirting with the opposition PNCR’s position on the regional cultural extravaganza to discourage participation.
Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon was speaking about Cabinet’s assessment of preparations in “the final lap” before the regional activity is held in Guyana for the second time around in 26 years.
At his post-Cabinet press conference yesterday he said that preparations were on stream with the relaxation of the visa policy for visitors, allowing chartered flights to facilitate the movement of visitors in and out of Guyana; and the waiving of the departure tax for the occasion.
Dr Luncheon said that security was appropriately addressed with the endorsement of a comprehensive security plan that featured resources, rehearsals, simulations and contingency planning; and a commitment to redundancy will see the alignment of the Joint Services once again as well as participation in security by the private security firms.
And the Joint Services have reassured the government about their ability to handle threats, he said.
He said too that the public relations focus was being maintained, highlighting events and the participation prospects but this was being undermined by a hostile Stabroek News “article”, which he did not identify when asked.
Dr Luncheon said that the patriotic sentiment about Carifesta was so “basely undermined by the hostile Stabroek News headline… article that saw it fit to highlight negatives about Guyana. That article. . . deceptively reasonable. . . urged tourists to be aware of risks to be entertained when coming to Guyana.
Obviously at a time such as this it was intended to discourage participation.”
Cabinet, he said, deemed that negative, “unpatriotic and unashamedly hostile stance of the Stabroek News to the PPP/C government… their open flirting with the opposition PNCR much maligned resolve to undermine the participation in Carifesta X.”
Dr Luncheon appeared to be referring to the August 5 editorial headed `Coming to Guyana’ which dealt with travel advisories issued by Canada, the UK and the US to their citizens who might be desirous of travelling here. Stabroek News Editor Anand Persaud in a comment on Dr Luncheon’s statement said there was nothing exceptionable about the editorial and in the circumstances it responsibly laid out what potential visitors have been advised of. It also highlighted the need for the government to do all it could to address the matters raised in the advisories. Persaud said that Dr Luncheon’s charge that the newspaper was trying to discourage participation in Carifesta was completely baseless.
When asked if the government was not being paranoid in its assessment of Stabroek News’ reportage when crime was a key concern in the society and even as Cabinet was seeking an extension of the parliamentary session to deal with crime legislation, Dr Luncheon said he does not know why anyone would deem the government’s view as paranoia.
He said, “Let’s put it this way. . . With the wealth of print media in Guyana, a resort to highlighting at this specific time these issues . . . brings us to what is the question. I don’t know why this is paranoia. I am about to host Carifesta, I am hosting countries from within the region and out of the region, I am hosting tourists. Quite a bit of economic activities are envisioned to flow from this activity and here is this loyal Stabroek News saying out there to the tourists saying – you are coming. Please be aware.”
Dr Luncheon added that he did not hear Stabroek News making such protestations about other countries where similar activities were being held.
“I suppose they will claim that we need to be guided. At the end of the day this is Cabinet’s position. It is deemed to be hostile and intended to parrot the PNCR line. They (PNCR) have a willing acolyte in their move,” he said, adding that the PNCR has retreated on the matter but it “apparently has succeeded in pushing their acolytes in the Stabroek News editorial or whoever it is to take on that responsibility.”
Asked about the article he referred to, he said, “Indeed I did not mention what specifically aroused the quite reasonable ire of Cabinet, Guyanese and the representatives of countries participating as well as intended visitors.”
However, he said, in the Stabroek News article, which was not a secret, there were negatives such as the concerns of the foreign and diplomatic community over time about issues in Guyana and some comments about different aspects of crime statistically in Guyana.
“The collection of information and the foisting (of) them on the public domain at a time of the dry run of (Carifesta),” he said, was not reasonable but Cabinet’s position on the Stabroek News was reasonable.
