Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo takes great pride in describing himself as a journalist of many years . When it suits his political agenda, he would readily embrace the media fraternity and masquerade as part of it pretending to champion the cause of journalists and conveying the impression that he advocates for freedom of the press and its independence from political control and influence. He fooled people for decades by this facade. As a result, he was able to exploit naive journalists for years and secured from them wide coverage of his political pursuits . When he cut NCN and GINA's budget in the National Assembly in 2012, 2013 and 2014, he sought to justify his actions by arguing that those outfits were controlled by the PPP/C Government and they were not offering any coverage to the Opposition.
When the Coalition Government took office the sum total of his portfolio responsibility as Prime Minister was oversight of the State Media, a task performed by Kwame Mckoy for years under the PPP . The grand promises contained in the Cummingsburg Accord never materialized. But fortunately, as diminished as it is, this portfolio responsibility facilitated an opportunity for all to see his true colors. In a matter of days, two political activists, Beverly Alert and Imran Khan , both of whom are members of the AFC and on the APNU/AFC Lists, were put to head GINA, and a press unit within the Office of the Prime Minister, respectively. So all his criticisms about political influence over the State media by the PPP was sheer hypocrisy. He did worse ; he installed two politicians in the leadership of the State media. Within weeks, the Prime Minister publicly upbraided a reporter of the Chronicle on the corridors of the Parliament Buildings for publishing a story critical of the Government. The very next day, he issued a directive that he must approve all headlines of the Chronicle. Within the next 2 weeks, this lover of independence in the media , unceremoniously demonstrated it, by firing veteran and respectable journalist, Ricky Singh, a Guyanese and Caribbean icon, from writing in the Chronicle because Singh penned a piece critical of him.
Next, under his watch and I am sure with his support, his former landlord and Khemraj Ramjattan's in law and another member of the AFC list, Bish Panday was appointed as Chairman of NCN Board. This was followed by the Prime Minister's side-kick, Imran Khan, obviously parroting the PM's instructions, boldly announcing during the 2016 Budget Debates that the State media's duty is to only cover the Govt and not the Opposition. President Granger was forced to issue a statement rejecting that inane utterance much to the embarrassment of Khan and his boss. The most recent casualties of the Prime Minister and his underlings are Sase Narine Singh and David Hinds. Both are well- known supporters of the Coalition. Both have been fired from writing for the Chronicle because their writings were considered critical.
These decisions could not have been made without the Knowledge and support of the Prime Minister. The matters to which I have referred have, obviously, not gone unnoticed by the International Community. The US State Department in its latest report indicates that the Office of the Prime Minister is guilty of press censorship of the State media. The latest blow and perhaps the most damaging disclosures have come from the Guyana Press Association. The local body claims that the Prime Minister is interfering with and intimidating the state media on a weekly basis. The above consists of a formidable litany of facts and devastating allegations against a man, who for decades, held himself out to be a friend of the journalistic fraternity. But then again, as Bob Marley said " you can fool some of the people some of the time... You cannot fool all the people all the time "
- Mohabir Anil Nandlall.
