There are times when many in journalism who brings the news to you become the news. That happened to Mr. Dennis Chabrol in this newspaper last Wednesday when long-standing journalist, Mr. Neil Marks, published a detailed letter in which he noted that Mr. Chabrol suggested changes to the constitution of the Guyana Press Association (GPA).

Mr. Marks wrote that two motions to amend the constitution were presented at the highly questionable GPA election last year May. This columnist’s inflexible position is that the execution of that election was a horrible display of political engineering out of which there should be an alternative to the GPA and I am willing to serve on that alternative body.

One of the motions was to extend the term of the president from two years to three years and the same for the executive. Mr. Marks wrote that Mr. Chabrol did suggest amendments but in relation to the particular two amendments, Mr. Marks was not clear in his missive if those two items originated from Mr. Chabrol. So I called Mr. Chabrol on Wednesday evening to request what constitutional changes he wanted as Mr. Marks noted.

Mr. Chabrol told me he has no comment to offer. I asked again, he declined again. Please note that I did not ask Mr. Chabrol for his comment on changing the capital of Guyana. I asked Mr. Chabrol to comment on something that has been written about him by one of the leading journalists in Guyana.

Mr. Chabrol made the news so I, as someone involved in journalism for over 35 years, and who writes in one of the oldest newspapers in Guyana, sought a comment from him.
Here now is yet another irony. Mr. Chabrol, on this very day that I write this article and tomorrow and next week and next month and next year will approach people, be they from politics, business, the municipal sphere, social sector, the diplomatic community, etc… and ask them for a comment for his online news outlet, Demerara Waves.
Mr. Chabrol requested a comment from Mr. Christopher Ram when Ram was accused of alleged inappropriate comments in his law class.

Mr. Chabrol wanted to have Ram’s explanation. Mr. Chabrol wrote in Demerara Waves that Ram refused to comment. Mr. Chabrol is now the subject, is the object and therefore he has an obligation to speak to the press. I am involved in the media for the past 35 years and I do what Mr. Chabrol does – ask people to comment on things.

The proposed amendment is only an infinitesimal aspect of what Mr. Marks has accused a tiny cabal residing in the opaque corridors of the GPA of doing. His long outpouring is a devastating critique of what the GPA has become. In his detailed exposure, Mr. Marks has placed all those who were part of the May 2023 election process of the GPA under the microscope.

After that election, I did solicit an interview with Ms. Raghubir but she declined. Please see my column of Saturday, July 15, 2023 in this newspaper, captioned, “Where does Ms. Raghubir’s methodology leave journalism?” I think anyone who wants to understand how sections of this society are far removed from democratic conduct needs to read Mr. Marks’ letter.

It is lengthy, but the contents make for sad reading thus it should be read. Mr. Marks’ offering is not the stuff for the faint-hearted who is optimistic that as we become a little developed nation, all the pieces will fit neatly into place and Guyana becomes a showpiece in social stability.

Mr. Marks’ articulations are frightening. I believe what Mr. Marks so meticulously documented in his Chronicle publication. At the time of the election, I did my research on what was taking place when a tiny cabal in the GPA frowned on electoral accountability.
At the time of the conspiracies in May last year to control the election, I had likened the refusal of the tiny cabal to demit office because their time had come to an end to the refusal of the APNU+AFC to call election three months after the vote of no-confidence.

Ms. Raghubir stayed in office as president of the GPA for three years during the Covid period. But in May, she sought another term of office which when it ends in May 2025, Ms. Raghubir would served seven years instead of the legal four years.
Now, the cabal wants term limits to move from two years to three.

Is it because she wants to be there in the GPA to report on the 2025 general election? I confronted Ms. Raghubir at Giftland in 2021 and told her I reject her election report in 2020 that there were people in many political parties that attacked journalists. That was not true.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.