Dear Editor,
I join with all progressive thinking media operatives at home and abroad in deploring the Office of the President’s high-handed treatment of journalist, Mr Gordon Moseley, by outrightly banning him from entering the Office of the President and State House in the performance of his duties.
I must say I read Mr Moseley’s letter that sought to clarify his version of what he originally reported while covering the President’s Antigua visit, and found nothing therein to be reproachful and disrespectful of the President. On the other hand, the President is on record of being harshly critical, to the point of being disrespectful, of the local free media and he has been called out on this to the extent that regional and international forces have added their voices. Apparently he only responds when severely pressured.
And in direct response to the letter by Dr Prem Misir, Head of the Press and Public Affairs Unit in the Office of the President, “Moseley is persona no grata at State House and OP,” (GC, July 17), please stop wasting taxpayers time, money and resources writing letters that explain nothing. Even his propaganda pieces reflect a real disconnect from people.
Of course, the government reserves the right to issue and revoke media pass accreditations as it deems necessary, but let there be no mistake that the reason given by the government further exposes the government for what it is: an emerging dictatorship that is being poorly served by advisors who have only their narrow self interests at heart.
I am beginning to get the impression that not only the President is involved in these high-handed decisions, but so are certain officials in and around the President. In other words, there is emerging a cabal of people whose actions are helping to establish another dictatorship.
The late Forbes Burnham could not have achieved notoriety as an autocrat without the help of certain loyal lieutenants, and this President is proving that he has his own loyal following doing his bidding by aiding and abetting his autocratic ambitions. Dangerous times are ahead if this behaviour is not stopped sooner rather than later.
And if there is any group on whose shoulders such a responsibility falls then it is the group of local media operatives – members of Guyana’s fourth estate after the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. Freedom-loving Guyanese are counting on you to keep the light of truth burning for all to see what government is doing.
Ironically, after this high-profile banning makes the news in Antigua, where one Guyanese woman was featured in Mr Moseley’s piece as expressing concerns about discrimination in Guyana, there is no way Guyanese in Antigua would conclude that the PPP government does not practise discrimination. Here is glaring evidence!
Why would the government, after denying to Guyanese in Antigua that it does not discriminate against Guyanese at home, seek to ban a media operative because it disagrees with his opinion on what he wrote while covering the President in Antigua? Mind you, this operative expressed an opinion on a meeting, not a charge that can compromise internal stability or adversely impact on economic deals in the pipeline.
Finally, the President has to remember he is merely a custodian of the people’s business, and his government is the means through which the business gets done. He does not own the government. Mr Moseley is a Guyanese who has every right, based on his job, to access public places like OP and State House as his contemporaries and not be treated any less simply because the President feels ‘dissed,’ as opposed to having actually been ‘dissed.’
The President must restore Mr Moseley’s government-issued media pass accreditation and redeem himself while the public is still waiting and willing to forgive him.
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin
