Dear Editor,
Permit me a few lines in your newspaper to highlight a most troubling development which must be called out for what it is, with the hope that what must be a blind spot is corrected.
As I perused the Stabroek News of Monday, August 26, 2019 I came upon the headline of `Caretaker President in back-to-school drive at Liverpool’ which I found perplexing.
Cde. Editor, it is public knowledge that the Government has acknowledged that it is an “interim administration” given the validity of the no-confidence motion as determined by the Caribbean Court of Justice.
The Government has limited its overseas travel and has indicated that it will not pass the national budget nor initiate any controversial project or policy commitment that cannot be changed.
The Government has however repeatedly maintained its role to ensure the safety and security of the citizenry and the administration of services of the state.
Cde. Editor in our current domestic political situation, the Government has continually communicated and demonstrated that it will ensure credible elections are held in the shortest possible time.
The Guyanese people on all sides are interested in an electoral process that is above scrutiny particularly as we prepare for petroleum and its prospect of significant National Development for all. We can ill afford to be bickering over contested results at such a momentous time – history will be unkind to us should we fail to get it right this time.
It is with much angst that I am reminded of the same Stabroek News that was denied state advertising for what was deemed its unfavourable coverage towards the People’s Progressive Party. I searched for a headline of evidence that the previous Head of State was being dictatorial, to no avail.
Cde. Editor, this naked display of what can only be deemed as a personal attack on the Head of State must come to an end. Entities responsible for disseminating information to the public especially given our political history must demonstrate some level of reasonable ethics.
As our nation approaches General and Regional Elections and makes an informed choice on the course of leadership, it is hoped that entities like the Stabroek News can transform themselves into the caretakers of good governance, credibility and all the tenets of good journalism.
Yours faithfully,
Ryan Maraj
Editor’s note: The headline was not a personal attack on the President. In its July 12 consequential orders the Caribbean Court of Justice said as follows at paragraph eight: “It is important, however, that the Court makes this point. In mandating that the Government shall remain in office notwithstanding its defeat and the resignation of the President and the Cabinet, Article 106 envisages that the tenure in office of the Cabinet, including the President, after the Govern-ment’s defeat, is on a different footing from that which existed prior to the vote of no confidence. Chancellor Cummings-Edwards, citing Hogg, the Canadian constitutional expert, was right to note that: “…The government continues in office as a caretaker government or an interim government until the next elections ensue and a President is appointed (or reappointed) depending on the results of that election.” By convention, the government is expected to behave during this interim period as a caretaker and so restrain the exercise of its legal authority. It is this caretaker or interim role that explains the three month deadline, in the first instance, that the Article lays down, in principle, for the holding of the fresh elections”.
