By Ravin Singh
FOLLOWING the recent suspension of the National Communications Network (NCN) Sports Editor, Jocelle Archibald-Hawke, due to comments made on her personal Facebook profile, President David Granger has described that decision by the management as “inhumane.”Two weeks ago, Archibald-Hawke, who was accused of making a defamatory comment about one of her colleagues on social media was suspended by the management of NCN for one month without pay, even after she did a written apology.
The Sports Editor expressed the view on her personal Facebook profile that she was “surrounded by idiots,” after her colleague, Norman Gobin questioned the President on his television show ‘The Public Interest,’ about an augmented reality game “Pokemon Go.”
She was subsequently asked to apologise and did so. However, the editor was subsequently suspended because the apology was not to the liking of her colleague and reports of misconduct which had already been dealt with in the past resurfaced.
Since then the Guyana Press Association (GPA) has insisted that the suspension should be rescinded because NCN does not have a social media policy from which it can institute disciplinary action.

“She has not committed a crime, it is not as though she’s a murderer. I think it was inhumane to take away her salary or to suspend her from her job. I don’t know she has committed any crime at all” – President Granger

But the decision by management to suspend Archibald-Hawke was not one President David Granger agreed with.
In fact, during the recording of his television show ‘The Public Interest’ on Thursday, the Head-of-State said that it was inhumane of management to take such actions against the Sports Editor.
“I think there was as absence of compassion on the part of the administration [of NCN] and we expect that [compassion] in the future. I think it is inhumane to deprive an employee of her salary without due process,” he said.
With no social media policy to guide the conduct of its staff, the President also contended that no law was broken nor was any crime committed by the Sports Editor.
“She has not committed a crime, it is not as though she’s a murderer. I think it was inhumane to take away her salary or to suspend her from her job. I don’t know she has committed any crime at all.”
The Head-of-State went on to explain that there needs to be some instruction passed to the administration of state entities that there should be no “power play,” but that the operations of the entity should be to the benefit of all Guyanese.
In relation to another issue involving the removal of an employee from anchoring the news, because she is pregnant, President Granger contended that there should be no obstruction to women being allowed to perform their duties because of pregnancy.
“There should be no obstacle [and] no threat and certainly people should not be punished by being removed from their jobs.”
The anchor of the evening news programme of state broadcaster, Natasha Smith was removed from her chair by the company CEO, Lennox Cornette after it was reported that she “did not look good” due to her pregnancy. She was reinstated on Wednesday after pressure mounted on the state-owned company.
Cornette had denied that Smith was removed on those grounds. However, a copy of the minutes of the meeting where the decision was made, conflicted with his claims.
THE GPA was able to secure a copy of the minutes of the August 8, 2016 management meeting which pointed to a discussion on the production of a news montage.
The minutes read thus: ‘With regards to this, the CEO stated that the anchor and wardrobe should coincide with the montage. However, given the present condition of Ms. Natasha Smith, the CEO asked that a tight shot be done to remedy the view….”
According to the GPA, following that discussion, the CEO recommended that Smith be replaced.
Asked whether he believes disciplinary actions should be brought against Cornette for discriminating against Smith, the Head-of-State said that he could not say what the outcome will be, since that responsibility lies with Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.
The President said though, that he hopes that the persons responsible for those incidents would operate in a more “prudent and compassionate” manner.
The PM has since denounced these actions and demanded the CEO tender an unqualified apology to Smith “for using her pregnancy as reason to remove her temporarily as News Anchor.”
This issue has also raised the question about a comprehensive pregnancy policy and according to President Granger, Government will make a recommendation for there to be a generalized Government policy in the future, as they did not anticipate an event of this nature.
Both the Guyana Defense Force and the Guyana Police Force have a pregnancy policy and the Government has proposed that the City Council apply a similar policy.
“Now that the matter has gone to NCN, we would make a recommendation for there to be a generalized Government policy because we didn’t think it would have come to this, because as far as I’m concerned, NCN was quite out of place [and] out of order to have the person removed from the job that she was doing,” the Head-of-State said.