YOU wonder where Stabroek News (SN) gets its columnists from (Mr. Ralph Ramkarran is not a SN columnist). During the 2020 election disaster, all of its columnists were writing in support of the conspiracies, with one columnist referring to the observers from the ABCEU countries as aliens.

Don’t take my word for it; Google that period (March –July 2020) in Guyana. I have been in newspaper business longer than the current SN’s editor, Mr. Anand Persaud and I can say with deep conviction that when a newspaper has a laid down policy, no sections of the paper – columnists and reporters – are allowed to make public presentations in the newspaper that contradict that policy.

Two examples should suffice. Western newspapers do not accept that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, therefore its reporters and columnists are instructed not to use that word in their submissions.

Western newspapers believe that Putin has no justification for invading Ukraine and would not carry anything whatsoever that argues that security interests justify the Russian move. My own opinion is that the story is complicated and the Russians have an interpretation that should be listened to.

SN’s official position was to denounce the rigging, then as a matter of principle it should not have allowed its columnists to endorse the conspiracies. SN’s position did not fool me. SN gave the latitude to the columnists because the writers were simply saying what SN, for reasons of credibility, couldn’t say itself.

I suspect the reason why SN could not have come out and support the wrong things APNU+AFC was doing to overturn the legitimate results was because of its close relationship with the ABCEU embassies. It could not have taken a position contrary to what ABCEU diplomats were saying. It was the ABCEU missions that helped to preserve the legal results that saved Guyana. I am convinced this was the reason SN did not join its columnists in their support for the contention of APNU+AFC that it won the election.

Before I move on to the real purpose of this commentary here, two important facts need to be brought out that are relevant to what I have just penned. Six months after his arrival in Guyana, Mr. Van Ness, the EU ambassador, gave the embassy’s human rights award to SN. Secondly, SN has taken a pro-Israel position and has not reported on any of the six public events in Georgetown in support of Palestine and did not cover the separate press conferences here of Palestine’s ambassador to the UN and Palestine’s ambassador to Guyana.

So I return to the question I asked above; where does SN get its columnists from? Its newest addition is Dr. Bertrand Ramcharan. Each article by him evokes strong feelings of disagreements because the political adumbrations of the gentleman are either irrational, illogical or crudely propagandistic.

I reacted yesterday (Friday) to what Ramcharan wrote last Thursday in SN. This is part 2. I quote Ramcharan: “I can think of no organisation that has made a better contribution to the history of Guyana than the GHRA.” This is not only vulgarisation and fictionalisation of Guyana’s history, but without wanting to come across as crude, there is a touch of both comicality and asininity in the quote above.

The GHRA was formed in 1979. That is, almost 30 years after the PPP would have stood up against colonialism and Burnhamite totalitarianism. 1979 is decades after the sugar union, GAWU fought courageously for this country’s future and suffered immensely for such valour.

The GHRA was born in 1979. This is eleven years after the first rigged election in 1968, followed by another rigged national election in 1973 and a fraudulent referendum in 1978. During this time, organisations like the PPP, GAWU, NAACIE,  WPA, and the newspaper, Catholic Standard, confronted the Burnhamite dictatorship, sustaining a tremendous loss of lives in the struggle to free Guyana.

It would take volumes to record the sacrifice of these organisations and the harm that dictatorship inflicted on them. But some names have to be mentioned. Dr. Cheddi and his wife, Janet, were sent to prison. A bomb intended to kill Mrs. Jagan exploded at the Michael Forde Bookshop, killing its employee, Michael Forde.

The target of the House of Israel (HOI) was Father Andrew Morrison, but the HOI killers mistook Father Darke for Father Morrison and he was stabbed to death. WPA stalwart, Dr. Joshua Ramsammy survived an assassin’s bullet at Stabroek Market Square, but his colleague, Walter Rodney, didn’t. The list here does not include the thousands of PPP and WPA activists who were either killed, jailed or victimised. Against these glorious acts of courage, Ramcharan says the most important organisation that Guyana produced is the GHRA whose leader, Mr. Mike McCormack never endured a scratch since 1979.

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.