PRIME Minister Moses Nagamootoo has pledged a complete reform of the Public Information sector, so that it informs and empowers members of the public to make wise choices rather than fall prey to narrow and partisan agendas that are not healthy for national development.During his address to the second session of the 11th Parliament yesterday afternoon, Prime Minister Nagamootoo loudly praised the State-owned Guyana Chronicle newspaper, which he said had been recently transformed from a “partisan, propagandistic rag” to now become a bastion of public information.

The Prime Minister said he was pleased to report that since the change of Government, Guyana is witnessing what appears to be a magical transformation of the public information landscape with the Chronicle newspaper leading the way.

“Today, Guyana is witnessing what appears to be a magical transformation of the public information landscape. It’s amazing that you could have transformation in the Guyana Chronicle, which had hitherto been purveying all the things that would divide and set us up against each other,” the Prime Minister said.

According to him, Chronicle has now turned to “become a bastion of public information that is credible…”

At this point his colleague Member of Parliament, Minister Khemraj Ramjattan interjected: “We have revolutionised it”.

And PM Nagamootoo continues: “…as my learned friend has said, we have revolutionised this newspaper. And here I would like to wish them well, and as I have said, this government will not only promote professionalism in journalism and promote the ethics and high standards of journalism, but we will also protect journalists who practice the profession, faithfully to their own standards, faithfully to their own ethics, and that you will see less perhaps, and ideally, no interference from this Minister, as the Minister responsible for Public Information…”

NEW BOARDS FOR NCN, CHRONICLE
He also made it clear that the Guyana National Newspapers Limited (Printers and Publisher of the Chronicle newspaper) and the State-owned National Communications Network (NCN), will both have new Boards of Directors very shortly.

“I can assure that these boards will have professional representatives, and they will have people committed to some standards of business so that both Chronicle and NCN, as public information media, they must not only carry out the functions to inform the people, educate and entertain people, but they also must be accountable, and they must also be viable,” the Prime Minister posited.
GINA

He also pledged that there will shortly be a complete shake-up of the Government Information Agency (GINA), so that it could move from being a channel of harassment and victimization of those who do not share the views of the Government of the day, to one which practises and disseminates a more equal distribution of economic, social, cultural information and a more enlightened and representative political discourse.
The Prime Minister was, however, particularly harsh on GINA.
“GINA must not be an agency that will pay people to monitor calls of individuals, to wiretap, to intercept Facebook messages and to do things that are not in the domain of public information, but are within the narrow confines of political vendettas,” he chided.

The Prime Minister also alluded to the fact that GINA was on record as owing the Guyana Chronicle over $70M for advertisements requested and carried, something that is “unacceptable”.

He said the new administration will ensure that the advertisements that entities pay for GINA to place into the larger media are not sidelined to pay propaganda ads for political parties. He explained that this is the reason for the poor performance of GINA and why it has become a “heavy lead pulling down NCN and Chronicle.” The money paid to GINA to remit to the television and state newspaper has never been paid over, the PM said.
He explained further that an investigation is underway as to these outstanding payments including the huge sum owed to the Chronicle alone.
“It is horrible that we could have had such abuse; that the former Government could have used the newspaper at election time to carry advertisments that are propaganda material and not pay them.”
The Prime Minister said GINA will be re-organised to become what it ought to be: a professional body to tell the world what the Government is doing; what the ministers are doing; what the public officials are doing and putting the required information for political, economic and social development into the public domain.
REFORM

The Prime Minister also indicated that Government is taking steps to ensure that the people of Linden in Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice) get back their own television station so that they could have the programmes they desire and those that serve their needs.

He said the reforms in the information sector will also ensure that the people of Linden get back their own television station, noting that many years ago Linden had its own television station and the benefits of two channels. The return of the television station to the people, he said, is a work in progress.
The Prime Minister made the disclosures about the public communication policy of the Government within the context of the speech made by President David Granger during the formal opening of the 11th Parliament on June 10th last.
PM Nagamootoo observed that in the President’s address, he had spoken about the information superhighway and he wished to endorse the President’s observations on this phenomenon.
He said that given the existence of the information superhighway, Guyana can no longer be content with being insular and isolated.
This situation means that Guyana is in fact part and parcel of a global village and has to place its agenda on the information superhighway which goes beyond the walls of Parliament; which can be seen around the world.
He said: “We are being monitored and the information that goes out must impress the world that we deserve their sympathy and support.”

He assured the National Assembly that under the coalition Government there will be full respect for the media; for the plural nature of the communications media and no attempt will be made to deny any journalist of his or her constitutional right to freedom of expression or freedom to impart knowledge, information and entertainment.

He added: “But of course, the information has to be circulated in a responsible way; in a way to help, not to destroy Guyana; not to destroy the reputations of people.”

By Clifford Stanley