Hypocrisy rife throughout the DPI’s operation

Dear Editor,
I recalled Mr Moses Nagamootoo, who when in the Opposition during the period of the Donald Ramotar Administration, accused the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) of politicising the State media. During his then sustained condemnation, he spared no effort in accusing the Government Information Agency (GINA) and the other arms of the State media of publishing Government propaganda.
He used that as justification in calling for the cutting of budgetary allocations to GINA and the National Communications Network (NCN). The allocations for both entities were subsequently reduced to a dollar for consecutive years. The images of his famous gesticulation using his fingers to demonstrate the action of cutting with a pair of scissors still linger.
Following the 2015 elections, Nagamootoo became Prime Minister and Beverley Alert, an executive of his party, the Alliance For Change (AFC), and an election candidate, was appointed to head GINA. Sometime after, she was replaced by what appears to be a more senior AFC official and election candidate, Imran Khan. Currently, another AFC executive is the General Manager of the Guyana National Newspapers Ltd (GNNL), which publishes the Guyana Chronicle.
Since 2015, Khan has not only been publicly promoting the AFC and its events through forms of communication that are now accepted as official, but has also spared no effort to pen disparaging articles against the Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo and the PPP which are published in the Guyana Chronicle and profusely shared elsewhere.
By doing so, given that he heads GINA, now the Department of Public Information (DPI), he has officially made that State entity a political tool which spews hatred through Government propaganda. This is the same Mr Khan, when he was called out for disparaging the Indian High Commissioner some time ago, tried desperately to claim that the medium he used for such vile utterances, was not official but personal. His failed defence was just another form of his usual propaganda.
Editor, the DPI’s budget and staff complement has increased steeply since the 2015 elections. While its role of accurately informing Guyanese on Government’s programmes and policies is not in question, Mr Khan using his official position for political rants which are carried in the State media is not in keeping with the mandate of the DPI and, by extension, the Guyana Chronicle.
Given this has now become a fixture, it is clear that Mr Khan, who is paid by the State from taxpayers’ money, is using Government resources to foster the work of the AFC, a political party. Only recently, a letter, purportedly from some staff of the DPI, alleged gross misuse of funds by Mr Khan. A nexus can, therefore, be easily made.
The stark reality is that two major entities of the State media are headed by politicians representing the Government, with one obsessed with constantly bashing the Opposition and its Leader. How is it that the Prime Minister doesn’t see this as a politicisation of the State media? It cannot be that he is unaware; therefore, it reeks of hypocrisy to the point of being unprecedented. What happened to his fingers regarding his gesticulation to cut?
This is a clear case which warrants an intervention from President David Granger. After all, he heads the Government at whose feet the hypocrisy can be squarely placed.

Sincerely,
Anjanie Seebaran