ONLY yesterday I wrote about the lack of responsibility by a major newsman in Guyana. When I woke up this morning and went through the dailies I found solid proof for my contention. I am, of course, talking about the outrageous editorial in Kaieteur News which basically accused the president of manoeuvering towards what is derisively called the Putin Option.
Now, some of us have long memories about some opposition issues but profess amnesia on certain other critical matters of national importance. Let me help out here. Columnists and writers in the same outlet for months peddled the ‘nancy story’ that President Jagdeo was bent on a third term.
The charges kept coming despite regular corrections of the record from the Office of the President and flat denials by the president himself.
This writer, in the capacity of Political Affairs Assistant to the President, published several pieces on the matter. In each case, I made the point that the third term rumour was more than rumour; it was outright mischief concocted by a bunch of men bent on the politics of personal destruction. I must remind readers that Freddie Kissoon declared in the most adamant form that President Jagdeo will be the PPP presidential candidate in 2012. As usual, he is dead wrong.
Another miasmic little cocktail has now surfaced. The Kaieteur News Editorial of April 27, 2011 suggests that the nation is being hoodwinked into a political trap. Here is a direct quote from that editorial: – “Mr. Ramotar’s… allowance that there might be a role in the next government for Mr. Jagdeo has once again resuscitated all the doubts and fears that were sought to be buried.
“The fears were, and remain, that the intent of the amendment to the constitution to limit presidential terms of office – and so reduce the effects of extended “one-man rule” from which our country had suffered so terribly – would be subverted” (Kaieteur News, 4.27.11).
This is nothing short of mischief in the above. Whoever is responsible for editorial policy and, more specifically, for this specific installment, should immediately step up and provide evidence of the claims. It is not enough to hide behind editorial alibi here because the intimations are injurious. More than that, they fall well within the pattern of structured and targeted distortions aimed against the president.