CIVIL SOCIETY and Government have strongly taken Alliance for Change Chairman, Nigel Hughes and the Glen Lall owned Kaieteur Newspapers to task for the distortions and attempts to sensationalize the details pertaining to the process through which former President Bharrat Jagdeo acquired his private property.
Hughes and Kaieteur News have also come in for heavy criticisms for being either party or individually creating the atmosphere, and by extension providing enough materials for criminal elements and other misadvised persons to launch attacks, whether physical or otherwise, against the former President and Head of State.
Member of the Law and Order Commission, Captain Gerry Gouveia, is quoted as saying that the move to publish the news article in such a slanted manner and to support it with a distorted picture is just malicious and dangerous… because it puts Jagdeo at risk of undue public ridicule while presenting opportunities for unlawful elements to execute their ploys against the former president.
Gouviea said that nothing was wrong with a president retiring to a home that was befitting his stature after giving years of dedicated service and virtually reshaping both the social and economic landscapes of his country through prudent and realistic policies. “A case of envy and jealousy is seen here for those who have worked hard and tirelessly to achieve private assets and economic wealth,” he advised.
Businessmen have strongly objected to both the posture and attitude adopted by the learned AFC Chairman, Hughes, who himself professes to be a crusader of justice and facts. “Hughes did not bring any facts to show what corrupt practice Jagdeo was involved in when he bought his house. He just threw out perceptions and misleading figures and other information which he hoped someone would have confirmed on the debate on NCN. It was another publicity stunt orchestrated by the AFC to further drag Jagdeo’s legacy through the mud”, a concerned businessman said.
Hughes has also been criticised allegedly by members of his own profession for his demeanour during the interview and his apparent lack of ability to address the issue at hand which centred largely on the president’s pension and benefits, but he chose to disclose his “obsession with Jagdeo’s house” in the most unscholarly manner.
Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon officially articulated cabinet’s concern over the spate of articles and the publishing of images in the Kaietuer News which, he said, largely possess the damming potential of compromising the former president’s security.
“I believe that the sentiment definitely among the members of the administration is that this represents one of the grossest invasions of privacy… this position has resonated among other members of our community who have, in one or the other, expressed their apprehensions about the pursuit by the opposition and the way in which elements of the hostile media have been party to that trend of behaviour”, Dr Luncheon informed media.
Luncheon, in asserting the view of the Donald Ramotar administration, also said that it is clear that the aim of the statements of Hughes and the publishing of the photo by Kaietuer News was to open up Jagdeo to public ridicule and harm.
“I think that it is quite clear that it is a general advertisement, not only to the general public spelling out in great detail what is and what isn’t, but it could also be seen as an invitation to the maladjusted and criminal intent to use that information to perpetrate invasions of the privacy of the former president,” Luncheon who is also Secretary to the Defense Board opined.
Senior Law Enforcement officials have also confirmed that were any harm to come to the former president or any attacks launched on his premises, Kaietuer News would have taken some sort of responsibility.
Similarly, Hughes has landed himself in the melting pot of controversy by accusing a former president of wrong doings without providing an iota of evidence. This adds, now according to several political analysts, to his long string of other publicity stunts, with the most recent being his discrimination cry over his non-appointment as the Honorary Consul to Guyana from Italy.
“Hughes, who has been accused of tax evasion and other improprieties, should be ashamed to allow himself to be consumed by greed and envy. But then again it’s not totally uncharacteristic of Hughes if we examine his track record”, one of the analysts said.