GINA? ‘Shiver me timbers’, Cathy?
IT is not by chance that Alliance For Change (AFC) Member of Parliament, Cathy Hughes, has called for an end to State financing of the Government Information Agency (GINA). Her sentiments are not in isolation but form part of an orchestrated plan by the Opposition to try and muzzle the State media.

In the same presentation, she called for  removal of the subsidy to the National Communications Network (NCN).

This clearly has to do with the State media being the medium that provides facts with regard to the governing of the country through related programmes and policies and has been able to effectively debunk the lies and fabrications peddled by the Opposition and its cohorts within sections of the media.

In the case of GINA, it is absolutely bewildering that Mrs. Hughes would want to publicly advocate  withholding of funds. Aside from her political excursions, she is held in high esteem as a person within the communications field and who functions as the head of a production house which has been contracted, even by government, to produce materials, including documentaries!

In this context, it is not unreasonable to opine that she is not oblivious to the functions and responsibilities of a government information agency.

Every government has a unit that is mandated to propagate its programmes and policies through development-oriented materials which are disseminated to the mainstream media.

Even the United States of America, which is considered the bastion of democracy, has such a unit that functions out of the White House. GINA and its counterparts across the globe, are not designed to articulate the positions of the Opposition as Mrs. Hughes would want people to believe.  How is it possible for her not to comprehend something as elementary as this?

The Government Information Agency is implicit! It is not the Opposition Information Agency. Has Mrs. Hughes deliberately erased from her memory the role of the Guyana Public Communications Agency (GPCA) and its predecessors that provided full and dedicated coverage to the PNC government? Given that she is a rookie parliamentarian, it may not be unreasonable to attribute this to her over exuberance in trying to remain steadfast to the ingrained principle of the local Opposition which is to mislead.

While this may be considered a generous excuse, it is almost impossible to accept such a comment coming from someone of the calibre of Cathy Hughes. That aside, the attempt to muzzle the State media must be seen within a certain context. The Opposition has full control over the Kaieteur News, the Stabroek News, Channel 9 and its Prime News, Capitol News, Channel 6 and a television station in Berbice among others. In addition, they have full control over some websites including Demerara Waves and Benschop’s radio.

These mediums are populated with commentators who openly bash the government by peddling lies, thus deliberately misinforming the nation for political gratification. While NCN and the Guyana Chronicle are part of what is considered the State media, they are expected to, and do carry, balanced reports. As such, positions taken by the Opposition are articulated through those two entities adding to what is carried by media houses they control. GINA is left as the only entity to articulate and defend government’s positions which is not dissimilar to when the previous government was in office.

This type of dispensation is not confined to Guyana as alluded to earlier. By this argument, Mrs. Hughes’s position is not only untenable, but woefully outrageous! It clearly reveals her total lack of knowledge in this regard despite her media-related background. GINA is not a revenue-earning entity, and by trying to withhold its funding, the Opposition sees an opportunity to stifle facts with an aim to dominate the media landscape whereby their cohorts would continue to misinform. Further, it demonstrates the shameless level the Opposition would indulge for narrow political gains.

For Cathy and her colleagues, having no GINA is not having to deal with facts. For them, stifle GINA and deprive the nation of crucial information; stifle GINA and the lies of the Opposition will fester. In such a scenario, fear would reign, as was the case when the main Opposition was the government. “Shiver me timbers” would be a common slang when the populace are  subjected to only the Opposition’s views.

Guyanese must not allow themselves to be fooled by an Opposition that is anti-progress and anti-workers. This was further demonstrated when Cathy’s boss in the Alliance For Change, Mr. Khemraj Ramjatan, unapologetically called for workers from three large ministries to be fired. Without GINA, these hypocritical and inhumane proposals will go unnoticed and that is not by chance!