The government has appointed a Digital Infrastructure and Online Engagement Director to create a national platform for open access to government content.
This is according to Kwame McCoy, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister responsibility for Public Affairs in a message on Monday to mark World Press Freedom day.
McCoy also disclosed that the Irfaan Ali administration will be moving to restore the Office of the Commissioner of Information which he said had been “dismantled” under the Granger administration.
He said that President Ali “has committed to fulfilling our party’s manifesto promise of strengthening media freedoms and expanding its reach in his first term of office, to ensure that all Guyanese, regardless of their geographic location, will have access to information.
“In fact, it was the PPP/Civic government that created the first ever constitutional office of ‘Commissioner of Information’ which allowed for free public access to all state information. This office was dismantled by the Granger-led Coalition government in its first few months, a travesty which President Ali is committed to reversing and restoring shortly”.
Critics have said that the Office of the Commissioner of Information either did not function properly under the PPP/C government and that the governing legislation needs to be amended.
McCoy said that as the government introspects on its policies and positions of press freedom, “rest assured that our principles and commitment will remain steadfast even as we expect … the Guyanese media fraternity to do likewise and recommit to raising the bar of professionalism and ethics with due regard to the ‘public good’ that information should serve”.
He said that since returning to office last year, the PPP/C government has already taken measures to demonstrate this commitment
He noted that President Ali has included a Ministerial portfolio for Public Affairs within the Cabinet, with functional scope and authority within the Office of the Prime Minister.
“The portfolio Minister and indeed no less than the Office of the Prime Minister, are charged with all aspects of information generation and dissemination across all media platforms, including online; to enable, encourage, facilitate, safeguard and protect its free flow without exception; and to collaborate across all sectors to build capacity, increase and expand skills and knowledge; and all aspects of Telecommunication, including the strengthening and expansion of national infrastructure and supporting mechanisms, and including the liberalization of the industry, national frequencies and attendant platforms.”
McCoy noted that two months after taking office, the Office of the Prime Minister formally announced the liberalization of the Telecommunication Sector, effectively ending decades of commercial monopoly.
He added that the training of new journalists and broadcasters, including women, for positions across both the public and private media will be undertaken.
“Capacity building through industry training and international scholarships, including for online work, are being facilitated for direct benefit to members of Guyanese media fraternity and indeed all Guyanese. These awards form part of a five-year programme that will facilitate twenty thousand scholarships across a wide array of academic and skill-based disciplines”, he stated.
He asserted that a Broadcast Academy will be established to facilitate world class industry professional training and exposure for current and new broadcasters.
McCoy stated that the government is facilitating full access to the free press on a regular basis on state matters and those related to the COVID 19 Pandemic and has already taken steps to strengthen ties and build capacity with the Guyana Press Association.
“As a nation committed to a free press and a signatory to the declarations of Chapultepec and Windhoek, the Government of Guyana remains therefore unequivocally committed to upholding the constitutional rights of its citizens to freedom of information as a public good, and will continue to actively pursue, develop, consider and support reasonable measures that protect and guarantee access to, or the dissemination of information in all forms and across all media platforms”, McCoy added.
