IT is with great obscurity that I read the comments of Stabroek News’ reporter Oulatoyin Samantha Alleyne-Williams on Facebook publicly launching a vicious attack on the Minister of Agriculture and the President of our dear land. At first I was taken aback, but then I realised that the Guyanese public cannot expect better from Stabroek News, much less its so-called reporters who should have kept their personal and political opinions to themselves and aspire to be fair, diligent and professional in executing their duties to the public.

However, Ms. Alleyne-Williams’ lack of objectivity exposed her true identity, which is evident in her unprincipled and amateurish articles in Stabroek News that often slander senior government officials and oppose positive development in society.

As a retired journalist, back in the days we were trained to be fair, objective and not to have personal views in the articles/stories we write.

However, today there is a different generation of journalists, some of whom seek to spread misinformation and disunity in our country. I do hope that the Guyana Press Association takes note of this attempt and castigate Ms. Alleyne-Williams for her public display of distasteful remarks.

The GPA needs to do more to bring our young aspiring media operatives to a level where they can produce articles that are fair without venting their personal political views which only compromise their credibility, as in the case of Ms. Alleyne–Williams.
Guyana’s freedom of speech and association must not be abused and trampled upon by the nasty comments expressed by Ms Alleyne-Williams and hope that the government officials do take legal action against her and her handlers, Stabroek News.

A firm stance must be taken to set our media representatives straight and let good sense prevail or else the continued lawlessness by the Stabroek News and the Kaieteur News in propagating disunity in our country will continue.

In closing, I hope that Ms. Alleyne-Williams will learn from her mistake and Stabroek News will do the right thing and disassociate itself from her show of personal slander of senior prominent political figures in our country.

For Ms. Alleyne-Williams, I share with you a quote from Mr. Warren Buffett: “The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is. [For] to a degree, people read the press to inform themselves – and the better the teacher, the better the student body.”