There is truth, and then there is truth. One truth is the façade that can be re-designed into various configurations until it no longer resembles the original structure; while the other truth is the bedrock of factual representation of the actual.

The Auditor General’s Report never fails to send certain media houses into a frenzy of skewed reporting that almost borders on the criminal, without any attempt at verification or data analysis.

However, the latter presents its own dangers, because rational analysis needs a certain quality of intellectual and moral character, and when the intent is to bedazzle a gullible public into perceiving green is blue, and vice versa, then the analysis is obviously and justifiably suspect.

Recently, the Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh, a brilliant technocrat committed to executing his mandate in a committed and transparent manner, saw the need to pronounce on the misrepresentations based on the AG’s report in certain sections of the press.

Subsequently Education Minister Shaikh Baksh also had to address the issue, whereby the opposition media had reported on several matters without any attempt to contact Education Ministry officials for verification or an explanation of the facts.

And the facts absolve the Ministry of any complicity in wrongdoing, but the media houses in question had no intention of pursuing their profession in a fair and balanced manner. Instead their intent and agenda was clearly to cast aspersions on this Government, hence their prejudicial approach to reporting on matters relevant to implementation of Government’s policies and programmes.

One of the matters was rolled over – year after year, from the time of a previous administration in Government, and it involved supplementary funding for a project executed by the Social Impact Amelioration Programme (SIMAP) to build the dormitory at the President’s College, and it is a flaw in the AG’s Report that remains uncorrected year after year, despite the Ministry’s persistent requests to the AG’s office to rectify this mistake and not to list this money under the Ministry of Education.

Minister Baksh said that the relevant agency is addressing the matter and the defaulting contractor is currently before the court.

Where much of the dishonesty of the media houses in question lie is primarily in three areas:

l) They never attempt to investigate the real facts before reporting;

2) They are the prime defenders of those being prosecuted for wrongdoing in public offices because they perceive them as being opposition supporters; and even in general (remember Blackie?) unless it is someone they perceive as being supportive of the current Government.

3) While attempting to embarrass the Government of the day they fail to inform the public that many of these crimes were committed in earlier years during PNC administration, and that they keep rolling over and are reflected in the AG’s reports through the years because there are no records to trace the discrepancies and missing monies, much of which had to be written off by the Public Accounts Committee, which, by the way, is chaired by a member of the PNC.

The opposition media does an injustice to the honest and hardworking persons in Government offices, most of whom shun divides of race, religion, and politics in order to get the job done.

In effect, when they misreport and misrepresent facts, and create fictional and fictitious news, they are not only hurting the image of the PPP Government, which is intentional; but they are also maligning the employees of the State, which constitutes a major part of Guyana’s workforce.

These are men and women engaged, most often unremittingly and with great commitment, in many instances working beyond the call of duty for little reward, to serve the needs of their fellow Guyanese.

They do so without political motivation, while being aware that the monetary rewards would be scant, but they do so because they believe that they are helping to enhance the lives, and the quality of lives of Guyanese through the developmental initiatives their respective ministry is engaged in, and this for them is the greatest reward.

Distorting the facts demoralises Guyana’s Public Service employees en masse, diminishes the contributions to national development of these hard-working Guyanese, and criminalises an entire workforce.

Sensationalising the news in a speculative manner and skewing it in directions conducive to destructive propensities has precipitated genocide in some countries, and has often caused mayhem in the lives of private and public personalities, as in the case of recently-deceased superstar, Michael Jackson.

In our own Guyana, much turmoil and strife has been caused by some media houses intent on causing public mischief, ever since the days when the freedom fighters of the nation initiated the fight against colonialism, when the colonials owned the only newspapers in the country, until the PPP began publishing “The PAC Bulletin”, which subsequently evolved into the “Thunder” and “The Weekend Mirror”.

There is no country in the world, no matter how democratic, that would sanction public mischief by media houses without punitive measures being enforced, and Guyana is no exception.

However, except for rare instances, opposition media houses are largely allowed absolute latitude, and this has probably engendered a complacency that the news need not be truthful – as in factual, but could be engineered to suit requirements that would guarantee newspaper sales and generate advertising revenue.