AFTER two successful Statutory meetings for the first two months of the year, the third for the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region 5 (Mahaica/ Berbice) was adjourned when a Guyana Times reporter who had been accused of showing disrespect to the Clerk of the Council, attempted to cover the meeting without offering an apology.

Clerk of the Council Ovid Morrison, had on January 27 last year complained that during the first statutory meeting of 2017, he had held a discussion with a Guyana Times reporter, Andrew Carmichael, about the inaccuracies in his reporting on the work of the RDC. Carmichael, he became annoyed during the conversation and he abruptly walked out of the meeting venue of the meeting and deliberately used excessive force in closing the door behind him. “He slammed the door and I felt that this was being deliberately disrespectful, not only for me as the REO of the Region but for the Council itself,” Morrison said.
The REO said that he subsequently wrote a letter to the manager of the Guyana Times complaining about Carmichael’s disrespectful behaviour and had informed him that any apology was needed from Carmichael, or else he would not be welcome to any other sitting of the RDC at which he presides as the Clerk.

Morrison said as of Thursday there had been no response from the newspaper and he was surprised to see Carmichael attending the meeting, after all that had transpired. Morrison said he pointed out the situation to Chairman of the RDC, Vickchand Ramphal, who said that he would not support the reporter being banned from the meeting until he offered an apology.

Ramphal said that he felt there should be a thorough investigation into the incident, after which the Council would determine if Carmichael should be banned pending an apology. Ramphal, in the meantime, ruled that the reporter be allowed to stay. Morrison at this point requested the intervention of the Police to get Carmichael to leave.
A policewoman from the neighbouring Fort Wellington Police Station subsequently approached Carmichael and told him that he was not wanted at the meeting and that he should leave. Carmichael, however, refused to leave. The policewoman retreated without taking further action and Morrison left the meeting at this point and took up a position on the verandah.

He remained there for about two hours during which time Carmichael remained in the boardroom. There was no further action by the Police. Ramphal subsequently declared the meeting adjourned and he and his vice chairman Rion Peters and other councillors of the PPP/C left the venue.

Meanwhile, an APNU/AFC councillor accused the PPP/C chairman of the RDC of deliberately inviting Carmichael to the meeting, knowing fully well that it would not go down well with the REO and the APNU/ AFC councillors.

“The whole thing was a deliberate strategy by Ramphal to evade discussion on motions on the emblems for Region Five and the three- year vision for Region Five which had been tabled for discussion at the meeting by APNU councillor Dolston Hutson,” the councilor said. “He deliberately created the situation to avoid debate on these two motions. He didn’t want a full meeting” the councilor added.