AFC uses Holder’s illness to attack Chronicle
The following press release was issued to media houses subsequent to a report carried in Chronicle based on a previous press release on the issue from the AFC:
‘Distortion in the State Media’ The Alliance For Change wishes to express its disappointment and disapproval of a Guyana Chronicle news story of May 1, 2011 entitled “Sheila Holder may fall out of elections race due to poor health.”
The AFC regards Mrs. Sheila Holder as an integral part of its campaign to change Guyana. In recent times, she has been in the forefront of the party’s activism programme to highlight the flaws and mischief of this PPP’s governance. Moreover, Mrs. Holder will have a central role to play in the upcoming months.
Mrs. Holder over the last weekend along with the party’s Presidential candidate Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan visited the Essequibo Coast where they were able to successfully activate the party’s base as well as to inspire renewed interest in the work of the AFC.
The AFC advises the editors and directors of the Guyana Chronicle that they need to take the profession of journalism more seriously, and not to misrepresent and colour the facts about the Party principal’s state of health.
An AFC Government will institute sweeping changes to the current regime at the Guyana Chronicle, which will seek to professionalize it and end the partisan approach it is tainted with. The Chronicle must cease to be a newspaper which serves as a mouthpiece for an incompetent regime, in its vestigial stages, seeking vigorously to conceal the legacy of the PPP Government’s incompetence.”
When the Chronicle received the release on Mrs. Holder’s health, editors took a consensual position not to use anyone’s health as a basis for political rhetoric and published a very unbiased article to inform the public of the new development in the AFC camp, based on that previous AFC release, which is reproduced below:

”Alliance For Change
139 Fourth Street, Campbellville, Georgetown.  Tel: 231-8183.  Email: office@voteafc.com
Press Release

Sheila Holder goes for urgent medical treatment; withdraws from Prime Ministerial Candidacy
September 9, 2011

My fellow Guyanese, brothers, sisters and friends I wish[to] thank you for your belief in me and the change I stand for.

I wish to inform you, that due to my medical condition, which will require urgent treatment overseas for the next few months, I have informed my colleagues in the leadership of the AFC that I have decided to withdraw from the Prime Ministerial Candidacy of the Party, with  immediate effect.
While I am withdrawing for health reasons, my doctors are optimistic that I should be well enough to resume my political work in just a few months, I eagerly look forward to that moment.

My decision to withdraw now is because I will need urgent treatment, during the most intense period of the 2011 elections campaign which is imminent.
The Leadership of the AFC will soon unveil the process by which we will choose my replacement.  I firmly believe that we will choose the best possible Prime Ministerial Candidate who will gain my full support.
Fellow Guyanese, the mission of change is my passion. I ask you to be steadfast, believe in yourself, your power and your work for change, this will keep me motivated for a fast recovery.  As Inidra Ghandi said, “You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose.”
At this time I would like to express my gratitude for your support, the AFC membership and the National Executive Committee of the party for the support and love they provided during my candidacy. I have the utmost confidence in the Alliance For Change and look forward to continuing my active role in moving Guyana forward alongside my colleagues.
Finally, I ask all the citizens of Guyana to join with me and my colleagues in the AFC to transform our nation in this upcoming general elections.  Vote Change… Vote AFC.
Sheila Holder MP
Vice Chair, AFC”
As usual, while Chronicle took the high road on this matter, AFC leaders, as has become the norm with Guyana’s opposition collective, chose to attack Chronicle for carrying that report, in the issue of Saturday, Sept 10, that the party itself had sent to Chronicle – on page two at that.
This is an anomalous position and response, given the fact that the collective opposition is always complaining about not enough coverage by the state media, yet when they are given the demanded coverage they complain – a case of damned if we do, and damned if we don’t; a cross that the entire government construct has to bear.