–GPA condemns outburst

A PARTNERSHIP for National Unity (APNU)’s chief scrutineer, Carol Joseph, on Wednesday, hurled expletives at a Guyana Chronicle journalist, Tamica Garnett.

Joseph was contacted by the journalist for a comment on which areas the party would be contesting for the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGEs).

The journalist followed all common journalistic practices by first greeting the politician and providing an identity before proceeding to say what the purpose of the call was.

Joseph, however, interrupted the journalist and enquired again, “you from Guyana Chronicle?” to which the person responded, yes.

The APNU member then proceeded to say: “No darling. F*** Chronicle. Ayo don’t f***ing call my phone, yal are too biased. F*** you!”

The journalist was dumbfounded by the response and could only manage to say, “wow.”

Joseph, who once served as Petroleum Adviser at the Natural Resources Ministry under the APNU+AFC, is before the court for alleged electoral fraud.

She is also before another court for the alleged theft of $6.1 million from the Mahaica Abary Rice Development Scheme (MARDS) while being a member of its Board of Directors.

The Guyana Press Association (GPA) subsequently condemned the most “dastardly and pathetic expletive-laced” attack on the Guyana Chronicle journalist.

“This attack on Ms. Garnett marks a new low in relations between the media and the political directorate in Guyana,” the Press Association said.

The GPA called on Aubrey Norton, who is the PNCR Leader, Chairman of APNU and Guyana’s Opposition Leader, to publicly apologise to Ms. Garnett, and issue a commitment that his party would not subject members of the media to such acrimonious and indecent outbursts by any of his members.

“Failure to do so would certainly make him complicit at minimum,” the Press Association said.

It went on to state: “The GPA fully recognises the diverse ownership and influence in a number of media houses, but at the same time condemns any attack on media workers to execute their duties.”