PRIME Minister Moses Nagamootoo, who is also Minister of Information, is assuring members of the state media that qualified persons with roots in broadcasting, information, journalism and technical training will be appointed on the Boards of Directors of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited (GNNL) and the National Communications Network (NCN).In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle yesterday, the PM disclosed: “I am not going to be a minister in charge of information and put party hats into these boards to draw stipends for not working and doing party propaganda.”

Ghost writers and ghost producers, he declared, are features of the past, as the new boards would be professional and are going to be bringing to Guyana a new approach to information and communication.

He also said the boards must be “people-driven” to serve the needs of the Guyanese people and address the social and developmental agenda of the country. He said the partisan political agenda must be abolished.

In an earlier address to the National Assembly, the Prime Minister had pledged the new Administration’s support for true press freedom.

He had said that while the new Administration would make no attempt to curb the constitutional right of freedom of any media, including those belonging to the state, it would not turn a blind eye to irresponsible partisan information, a feature that had characterised the operations of these media under the previous administration.