STATE media and the Guyana Times, which is seen as friendly to the Government, was targeted by A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) Dr. Rupert Roopnarine.And General-Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Clement Rohee, contends that the main Opposition’s members are clearly “spitting venom” in the direction of media houses they cannot control.
“It is clear that the Opposition parties are finding it difficult to come to terms with the new dispensation, which arose from the decision taken to prorogue Parliament and like a wounded creature, now spits its venom against these sections of the media over which they have no control,” Rohee said at a news conference yesterday, which was held at the PPP’s Freedom House headquarters on Robb Street.
Speaking at an APNU rally last Friday at Square of the Revolution, Roopnarine started off by urging attendees, “Do not buy the Chronicle or the Guyana Times; and when you see Channel 11 come on, change it.”
What was cause for alarm, however, was when he took things up a notch, saying: “Within a very short time, we will have to arrange a ceremony at Square of the Revolution where we can make an enormous ‘bonfire’ of the Chronicle and the Guyana Times.”
APNU’s rally was organised in protest of President Donald Ramotar’s decision to prorogue Parliament, last Monday. The announcement was made in an address to the nation and Mr. Ramotar disclosed that he issued a proclamation to prorogue Parliament, which essentially means that the current session is suspended up to a maximum of six months – a move that is provided for in Section 70 (1) of Guyana’s Constitution.
“It seems that the only information that is considered acceptable and newsworthy by APNU is that which is anti-PPP or anti-government. This explains its obsession against sections of the media and its hysterical call for a boycott of those media outlets that refuse to play up to their nefarious agenda,” Rohee told members of the media yesterday.
According to him, the main Opposition’s “obsession with the media” dates back to the dictatorship Guyanese lived under, during the rule of the People’s National Congress (PNC).
The PPP General-Secretary said, “This obsession with the media has its genesis since the early days of dictatorial rule when the regime used every conceivable means to suppress freedom of expression which included the banning of newsprint for the Mirror Newspaper and the harassment and in some cases outright dismissals of journalists who dared to publish the truth.…(the PPP) encourages all Guyanese to ignore such calls which are clearly misdirected.”
Rohee stated that the President having ‘trumped’ the combined Opposition’s move to push through the Alliance For Change (AFC) sponsored no-confidence motion against the current Administration, has left the parties blaming others for their political folly.
“Mr. Granger and his bedfellows have now mastered the art of deception. Instead of accepting the fact that they have committed an act of serious indiscretion in pursuing the path of the no-confidence motion against the PPP/C administration they have now, in typical Don Quixote fashion, started tilting at windmills and blaming everyone except themselves for their political folly,” the PPP General-Secretary concluded.
The effect of ending a session by prorogation is to terminate business of the National Assembly.
As a result, the AFC’s no-confidence motion was not considered. Also, APNU had, prior to Monday, signaled its intent to support the push through of the motion. Had it not been for the proclamation to prorogue Parliament, if the no-confidence motion was passed, Guyana would have been headed to early general elections within three months.
According to President Ramotar, his move in proroguing Parliament was intended to pave the way for greater dialogue among political parties, while keeping the 10th Parliament alive.
However, he has made it clear that if these efforts prove futile, there will be a move to early general elections.