TWO issues made the news last week and both should generate discussion about the value of accountability in Guyana. The first development centres on PNC leader, Aubrey Norton; the second on former editor of the now defunct anti-government daily, Stabroek News (SN), Anand Persaud. Mr. Norton will be the subject of another column.
Just six months after he arrived in Guyana, EU Ambassador Van Ness bestowed on Persaud the Embassy’s Human Rights Award. It was an act of vulgarity (what is Van Ness doing in retirement in small Holland these days?) because if the embassy wanted to give away such an award, the eligible Guyanese ran into the dozens, with all of them far ahead of Persaud.
I have lived in Guyana my entire life, and I have not seen what Persaud would have done to earn that award. I am not a fan of the Kaieteur News (KN), and I am disdainful of Mr. Glen Lall but in terms of scoops, KN has always been way ahead of SN. In terms of investigative journalism, KN in Guyana’s history lags only behind the inimitable Catholic Standard under the tenure of Jesuit priest Andrew Morrison.
So Mr. Persaud was in the news last week. He was selected to address a meeting of the Guyana Press Association (GPA). This is a body that had a president for 8 years when the constitution allows only for two terms, a term being two years. This is an organisation that held an election without transparency and accountability, and only the incumbent had access to the list of voters and that list was denied to the challenger.
The result of that election was oxymoronically more comical and evil than any of the twisted national elections under Forbes Burnham and Desmond Hoyte. After the contest between Nazima Ragubhir and Neil Marks, here is what I wrote in my column of Tuesday, March 25, 2025 titled “Guyana: Insults to journalism.”
“When you look at the numbers the PNC gave itself in the 1973, 1980 and 1985 general elections, then you want to believe that someone in the GPA read about those elections and copied the methodology. Ms. Raghubir is a conspicuous media figure on the opposition side. Yet her votes were an incredible piece of mathematics, reminiscent of 34 instead of 33 being the majority of 65.
Mr. Marks had the support of media houses, both state and private, and should have won handsomely. But he didn’t and the votes Ms. Raghubir got as against Marks’ remind one of the 70 percent Burnham claimed in the 1973 general elections as against 26 percent for the PPP. The result of the GPA’s 2023 elections is identical with the 1973 results – Raghubir 70 (PNC- 70), Marks 25 (PPP 26).
Logical deduction would reveal even to a moron that Ms. Raghubir could not get 70 votes because if you add up all the opposition-aligned media houses, the employees in total do not reach 70. In contrast, State media houses and private newspapers voting for Marks would have put him far past Ms. Raghubir.”
Now here is what Mr. Persaud told the GPA; that the GPA should seek a yearly stipend from the government. Is this man a clown or simply being facetious? The GPA had a president for 8 years in contravention of its constitution. The GPA held a general election whose results strained the imagination. And thirdly, since the Ali presidency came into being, the GPA like SN became hostile to the Ali presidency.
Amidst this incredible lack of credibility, Mr. Persaud wants taxpayers’ money to support the GPA. What is under focus here is the question of accountability. Critchlow Labour College (CLC) received an annual subvention from the state, and it was withdrawn because the state asked for accountability. One person headed CLC for 25 years when the subvention was stopped. CLC refused to introduce term limits. When APNU+AFC came into power, it refused to reintroduce the subvention because accountability was the issue.
Mr. Persaud should be the first name in any discussion on accountability. The media are so powerful that in politics and journalism it is nicknamed the Fourth Estate, after the three tiers of power – judiciary, legislature and executive. Now it is commonsensical to know that such a powerful institution in society has to be accountable.
KN and Mr. Glen Lall, its owner, are not accountable to the society. Go through the oceans of my columns and you will find an unlimited amount of commentaries on lack of accountability by Mr. Persaud. He ran SN, the way Glen Lall runs KN. This man wants taxpayers’ money to fund an unaccountable organisation in Guyana named the Press Association.
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.