THE Kaieteur News is playing a dangerous game. Again, the newspaper has twisted its report on the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) Project to suit its own agenda, or is it that they are such “compulsive liars” that the truth misses them completely?  
In the Sunday, February 13, 2011 edition of the KN newspaper, the Peeping Tom and Adam Harris’ columns misinformed the public about the project just two days after President Bharrat Jagdeo addressed the matters related to the project. First, let me recognise the failure of the Kaieteur News to correct its mistakes and offer an apology to the public for the series of misinformation it peddled about the OLPF project. Maybe, it should not be surprising that no apology was tendered on the part of that newspaper. How more indecent could the Kaieteur News become?

At no time before the publication of its story, ‘Laptop flip-flop’ on Thursday, February 3, 2011 did Kaieteur News (seek) any information about the procurement of the 20 laptops (bought) for OP’s administration. Both Peeping Tom and Adam Harris suggested in their respective columns that the Government refused to give the information to the newspaper. There was no such request by the Kaieteur News or any other media house for information about these laptops.

The Kaieteur News wanted to interview the OLPF Project Officer Mr. Sesh Sukhdeo who, in-keeping with established protocol, directed them to yours truly.

I had two calls from Mr. Neil Marks of Kaieteur News and on both occasions I advised him that the officer (Sukhdeo) was too busy to grant interviews at the time and that his request would be granted as soon as the officer became available.

I went on to further advise Mr. Marks that he may wish to send me a list of questions if he urgently needed information on the project. To date, he has not sent me any questions, absolutely none. The Kaieteur News satisfied itself by operating in its usual “don’t care a damn” fashion.

Continuously and conveniently they avoid the journalistic principle that requires media professionals who are worth their salt to verify the facts/information before publishing a story. It is an entrenched habit of the Kaieteur News to IGNORE this principle.

Stabroek News, too, was guilty of this journalistic offence when it published a story in its Friday, February 10 edition, ‘Netbooks purchase bypassed tendering – not listed on eprocure website’.  Had they exercised journalistic prudence by verifying their facts/information with the Office of the President, these inaccuracies would never had occurred because the correct information would have been given that the 20 laptops were not part of the OLPF project and that the 142 netbooks were a donation to the Government of Guyana.

Let me remind Adam Harris that he served the PNCR regime which had one of the worst reputations in the history of Guyana and he played a key role in mounting the public relations for that administration and its party.

All the Government of Guyana demands is fair and objective journalism. Stop the lies, Adam and company.