THE constant hate-fest of the opposition media has destroyed lives, reputations, businesses, relationships et al relentlessly for years, with the victims having no recourse to justice.

Worse, the generation of race-baiting articles in tandem with opposition ‘kith and kin’ rhetoric has driven a wedge between Guyanese people for too long, so it is time these unscrupulous entities are challenged by someone fearless of consequences and vested with formidable representational capabilities that would perhaps serve to instill a sense of responsibility in media houses as to the real intent and mandate of information dissemination entities.

So, it is encouraging to victims of one particular print media house that Guyana’s esteemed Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Hon. Mohabir Anil Nandall, both in the spirit of his sublime scriptural warrior’s name and his position within the legal fraternity, to uphold others’ and his own reputation and the interests of the Government and the people that he serves, has filed and has been granted an interim injunction in a multi-million-dollar lawsuit through a petition by Attorney-at-law Sase Gunraj, who is acting on his behalf, which signals commencement of High Court proceedings for libel against Kaieteur News.

The AG is claiming damages in excess of $20M for the publication of two defamatory columns, aggravated or exemplary damages in excess of $10M, costs, and further or other orders as the court deems just.

The affidavit filed by the AG cites Adam Harris, Mohan Lall (aka Glenn Lall) and the National Media and Publishing Company Limited as defendants.

In the lawsuit, the AG contends that the contents of the columns “(were) calculated to cause, and did cause me, great public embarrassment; held me up to odium and ridicule, and to disparage me as the Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs and Member of Parliament” on both national and international fronts.

Nandlall described the contents of both columns as a “malicious and unwarranted” attack.
History is replete with instances where hate-fests left unchecked have destroyed families, communities and nations. The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the East African state of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days, from April 6 through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate. Estimates of the death toll have ranged from 500,000 to 1,000,000, or as much as 20% of the country’s total population.

The assassination of one Juvenal Habyarimana in April 1994 set off a violent reaction, during which Hutu groups conducted mass killings of Tutsis (and also pro-peace Hutus, who were portrayed as “traitors” and “collaborators”). That genocide had been planned by members of the Hutu power group known as the Akazu,

The primary responsibility for the killings themselves rests with two Hutu militias that had been organized for this purpose by political parties: The Interahamwe and Impuzamugambi, although once the genocide was underway, a great number of Hutu civilians took part in the murders.

The Rwandan radio station, which broadcasted from July 8, 1993 to July 31, 1994, played a significant role during the April–July 1994 Rwandan Genocide. Widely listened to by the general population, it projected racist propaganda against Tutsis, moderate Hutus, Belgians, and the United Nations mission, UNAMIR.

It is widely regarded as having played a crucial role in creating the atmosphere of charged racial hostility that allowed the genocide to occur.

Does the above ring a bell?
In Guyana, there are constant instances where individuals and public figures and politicians, inclusive of members of the media, engage in behaviour which serves to divide our people; and the venom in their rhetoric could be construed as attempts to intimidate persons.

The support for these media houses by NGOs such as GHRA and Red Thread suggests that they are apparently advocating that such dangerous behaviour must be allowed to continue; and it is interesting that, taking into consideration the concerns expressed by the People’s Progressive Party, Government and other stakeholders, at no time has the opposition media-controlled Guyana Press Association ever reassured Guyanese of the GPA’s and its President’s commitment towards playing their part in promoting racial unity in Guyana.

It is hoped that all stakeholders, including the regional and international community, take cognisance of the fact that the GPA has, in the past, termed statements by the PPP advocating that media desist from publishing/telecasting inflammatory rhetoric as ‘baseless accusations against members of the private media’, and attempts to intimidate private and independent journalists; yet Demerara Waves, which is operated by a former President of the Guyana Press Association, once allowed someone in the comments section of one of its stories to make a post calling for attacks against a particular ethnic group in Guyana, which has been a constant in the operational dynamics of opposition media reportage.

Sadly, this did not appear serious enough to warrant the concern of the Guyana Press Association and its then President, Gordon Moseley, whose Facebook posts on July 19th and 20th 2012, at the height of the protests and ensuing chaos in Linden, where he was providing constant updates and during which he is reported to have made the racially insensitive posts, miraculously disappeared from his account following a condemnatory PPP press release which drew attention to the fact that Mr. Moseley, following the unfortunate deaths of three protestors in Linden, as GPA President on July 19, 2012, fully aware of the racially-charged environment at the time, shockingly decided to make a comparison between the Linden situation and the way police dealt with protestors in Albion a few years ago, during which he stated that the area is a PPP stronghold and claimed that protestors there had burned a police station; and then he incorrectly stated that no-one was killed at Albion, as opposed to what transpired in Linden.

Although he was wrong on both fronts about the Albion protest, it is interesting to note that Mr. Moseley chose to attack the PPP, rather than condemn the opposition parties for instigating and perpetuating the violence in Linden.

Based on these glaring revelations, it is clear that the Guyana Press Association is not interested in pursuing the facts and transgressions of certain individuals in society, who were and are directly responsible for the many incidents in Guyana where opposition-led ‘peaceful protests’, through incendiary agitation of their supporters using various ploys, devolved into wanton destruction of private and public properties, loss of lives, and a derailment of national development.

It is worthy to note that a responsible Press Association would have ascertained the facts before rushing to issue such a brash, illogical and insensitive response as characterized by that of Mr. Moseley.

It is time that responsible journalists stand up and take back their profession in Guyana, knowing that while they must hold the ruling party and Government accountable, this also should apply to all others in society, including themselves and their colleagues.

This simple message adjuring responsibility in reporting by the leadership in the Government the GPA President, NGOs such as Red Thread, GHRA, as well as opposition leaders and other like-minded allies will try to maliciously and erroneously construe as an attack on private media and press freedom. They even go so far as to carry false claims to Reporters without Borders, without once thinking about adverse consequences to national developmental dynamics.

Perhaps this action by Guyana’s AG will serve as a warning and/or a deterrent to opposition media houses to curb their tendency to destructive, sensational, farcical and misrepresentational reporting and character assassination, and to instead stick to factual and unbiased information dissemination.