Press freedom among the PPP’s most significant victories

ATTORNEY-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr Anil Nandlall has said that the economic, social, legal, constitutional, and political freedoms Guyanese enjoy today are the most significant achievements of successive PPP/C Governments over the past 22 years.He also touched on the evolution of the local media, saying that we have indeed come a long way from the days when all we had was one newspaper, and one radio station with two channels.
He was at the time speaking on the television programme “Political Scope” on the National Communications Network (NCN) last evening. On October 5, the PPP/C Government observed 22 years of assuming office in 1992.
“History has shown that all the progress and advances that countries, including Guyana, have made could not have been possible if the people did not enjoy freedom to realise potentials, pursue ambitions and exercise basic inalienable rights,” the AG said.
Guyana’s history is characterised by oppression; from slavery to indentureship to dictatorship, ruled by the People’s National Congress (PNC) regime. The latter saw Guyanese men and women suffering at the hands of a State that was governed by the principle of party paramountcy.

FREEDOMS DEPRIVED UNDER PNC
Minister Nandlall said that with 80 percent of the economy controlled by the State, there was in every respect, a deprivation of freedoms, so much so, that even the court system was essentially under the hierarchy of the ruling elite of the day.
Often described as the ‘Dawn of a new era”, the year 1992 and thereafter, Guyanese for the first time were exposed to the opportunity of unleashing their potentials, both at the individual and national levels, because they were no longer constrained from doing so.
All of the problems and infringement of rights during that time were compounded by the fact that the Privy Council was abolished in Guyana, so there was no external organ of review in relation to the court system.
The economic, social and infrastructural transformation of the country that is evident today took place in the face of tremendous opposition, violence, street protests, and adverse external economic situations. Guyana was able to achieve eight consecutive years of real growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of five per cent per annum.
“One only has to look at the evidence which is unfolding at the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry to get a vivid idea of the atmosphere that existed at that time and the level of intimidation and fear that permeated this country. After 1992, all of this evaporated and Guyana for the first time in my humble view became truly free, and that is the reason for the phenomenal progress which we have witnessed as a people and as a country,” the AG said.

GUYANA TODAY
Today, 22 years later, more focus is being placed on the enhancement of human capital through large investments in the social sectors, particularly education and health.
The private sector, which was almost non-existent, is more vibrant than it has ever been. This is because of the freedoms that are enjoyed in the Guyanese society; people are free to invest without intimidation.
He said that importantly, all of these could only have been possible because “there is freedom in our country and our people feel comfortable… they do not invest in a state of fear, in a state of intimidation, in a state of apprehension and if you look at the time where our economy slowed down are times from 22 years ago, from 1992 to now are the times when we had violence in this country and the time that happened at every elections until 2006,” he explained.
“It’s not that there is not poverty, but we have progress. And as I have said, the history of Mankind has shown that it is a history of a struggle for freedom and justice that is what the history of mankind is and in every epoch of history  you see that where ever the human being has been denied freedom there is economic stagnation, there is social degradation, there is anarchy, there is chaos and wherever freedom abounds, progress abounds, prosperity abounds,” the AG stated.
Minister Nandlall noted that with the rising perception that democracy and freedom are under threat as a result of what is taking place in the Parliament, there is a likelihood that economic activities could once again decline in the country as it did during the periods of unrest prior to the 2006 elections.

MEDIA LANDSCAPE
In terms of the evolution of the media landscape in Guyana, Minister Nandlall reminded that one newspaper and one radio station with two channels were what constituted the media and these three mediums were fully controlled by the Government and the ruling party.
“You had opposition political parties who faced tremendous pressures, including violence being unleashed on them, some of them killed as they sought to print newspapers, pamphlets in their attempts to disseminate information to their constituencies and to the people of Guyana,” he said.
The PNC Government had imposed a law that required newspapers to get permission from the Minister of Trade before they could have imported newsprint.
“If you deny a newspaper the right to bring in newsprint,” Minister Nandlall said, “then you are denying that newspaper the right to publish. The Mirror Newspaper had to go all the way to the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal said the right to import newsprint and Freedom of Expression are not the same thing; they are different concepts. What the Constitution of Guyana guarantees the Mirror Newspaper is Freedom of Expression, but not freedom to import newsprint. So, you see the type of justice we had?”
Today, there are four daily newspapers over 20 television stations, and about 13 radio stations operating across the country, with almost no type of monitoring at the level of the Government.
The AG said that the country has moved from one paradigm to another, from a restrictive dictatorial position where freedom of the press was suppressed to one where freedom is abounding.
“If we look at the newspapers and television stations, you will see that most of them are not supportive of the Government; they are highly critical of the Government,” he said.
Turning his attention to parliamentary matters, Minister Nandlall said that the main objective of the constitutional reforms of 2001 in which all political parties, civil society bodies and other stakeholders had inputs, was essentially to remove a concentration of power in Central Government and in the presidency and devolve it to peripheral organs.
“Not only have we won freedom, but we have expanded it. We have entrenched it and allowed it to grow…none of the developmental goals that we have set for ourselves as a nation will be achievable unless we continue to enjoy democracy and freedom in our country,” the AG said.

(GINA)