Dr Jagdeo blasts media houses for failing to report on key developmental initiatives

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has blazed certain sections of the media for their failure to report on key details disclosed at the numerous government press conferences held recently.

Over the past week, the Office of the President, as well as some ministries, including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, and the Ministry of Agriculture have hosted year-end press conferences, where key initiatives that could significantly improve lives were outlined.  

However, Dr Jagdeo lamented that these updates were not reflected in the media coverage, even now, several days after the press conferences were held. 

The GS further noted that only a few stories were reported, but most of the media coverage honed in on opposition criticisms.

“In spite of all of this call for press conferences and this deluge of information that was given to the media, you have one story or two stories and not much more…but in the same week, when you had all of these press conferences, the opposition made some silly noise – the AFC – and got four stories in the mainstream media, but not much on the substance of what’s going on in this country,” the general secretary pointed out during his weekly press engagement at Freedom House.

He said that based on the content of these press engagements, an independent and unbiased party would be impressed by the government’s clear vision in each sector, and its diligent efforts to achieve these objectives.

“But I don’t think that this is interesting for some people, because they prefer to wallow in the rumour mill and things that they want to define us by,”

Within the health sector, Dr Jagdeo highlighted the administration’s comprehensive agenda for world-class healthcare, improvements in access and a revamp of primary healthcare standards.

To achieve this, health infrastructure across the country is being upgraded. Twelve new hospitals are under construction, and clinics are being rehabilitated and better furnished with top-notch medical equipment.

“Secondly, we’ve already made it clear we’re improving management. We’re training a number of people to improve management [and] accountability at each of these institutions. So, there would be a series of metrics against which each of these the hospitals would be measured. Their performance would be measured for the delivery of services, and they would be held accountable on how they perform against these metrics,” the GS added.

Additionally, the establishment of the National Electronic Patient Management System will streamline and strengthen the system for administration of patient records.

“But guess what? I don’t think they’ve made many stories in the newspapers. You didn’t have editorials…saying how great the government is doing compared to everyone else in this area and that we are investing in the right sector,” Dr Jagdeo said.

This was also the case in relation to the strides made in the agriculture sector. The general secretary contrasted the government’s achievements in rejuvenating the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and the various initiatives implemented to support farmers and fisherfolk with the blatant neglect the sector suffered under the previous government. Yet, he again noted that very little was reported on the sector’s progress in the mainstream media.

“From money earned through the LCDS, we are spending tens of billions of dollars on public infrastructure for adaptation purposes, to handle heavier rains and to manage water more that would lead to less flooding in our country, and not a cent of this comes from the taxpayer’s money. [The Minister of Agriculture] spoke of the tissue culture lab and the support for the livestock industry or shade houses, a whole range of initiatives that have seen the expansion of agriculture almost in every single area,”

“And again, guess what?  Only two stories I saw in the newspaper about GuySuCo and the pump stations. Nothing about all the progress we’ve made in agriculture,” Dr Jagdeo bemoaned.