PM Nagamootoo condemns attacks on journalists
[youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO4DV2sGGQ0″ width=”100%” height=”315″]
― this should not be tolerated in Guyana
― journalists have a right to conduct their duties without fear of intimidation
DPI, Guyana, Monday, March 11, 2019
Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo has condemned the recent attack on the President of the Guyana Press Association (GPA), Nazima Ragubir.
The Prime Minister, in an invited comment, stated:
“I have noted the attack on the GPA President and other journalists by the Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo and elements of his party junta. Journalists must be allowed to practise their profession without fear or harassment.”
Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo
“Calling the GPA President ‘stupid’ is not only gender persecution but an attack on journalism and press freedom. This type of intolerance has led invariably to the assassination of journalists and economic sanctions against media houses, and should not be tolerated in Guyana,” the Prime Minister pointed out.
In his recent ‘My Turn’ Column dated March 3, 2019, in the Guyana Chronicle publication, Prime Minister Nagamootoo pointed out a recent news conference by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo who scandalously labelled sections of the non-government media as ‘paid press’.
“That was the period when journalists were labelled as vultures and carrions; when a journalist was assassinated and another jailed for five years after being tried for treason. Then an out-spoken media critic was doused with fresh faeces at a time when no one thought that a journalist could be dismembered, a la Jamal Khashoggi,” Prime Minister wrote.
The Guyana Press Association (GPA), in a press statement dated March 11, 2019, condemned the continued attacks by Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo on media professionals.
“The GPA views these continued attacks as encouraging threats to the lives and livelihoods of our media professionals and media houses,” the statement read.
The GPA also reminded all political parties, politicians and personalities that journalists have a right to conduct their duties without fear of intimidation and, in this case, without attack.
Prime Minister Nagamootoo, who was the former Vice-President of the International Organisation of Journalists (IOJ) and a founder of the now-defunct Union of Guyanese Journalists, offered his solidarity to the GPA President and her colleagues and expressed confidence that:
“The Coalition Government will not allow the intemperate attacks to muzzle journalists.”
Rebecca Ganesh
Image: Department of Public Information