AG Nandlall’s threats to Kaieteur News…Regional media body condemns Govt. stance on journalists’ safety

A regional media body has condemned Government. Yesterday it called for the state to pull out all stops to ensure

Under Fire:
AG Anil Nandlall

the safety of media workers.
According to the Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM), the Government of Guyana must do all in its power to protect media workers from violent attacks and acts of intimidation. The government must also ensure that it does not send mixed signals about its stated commitment to a safe environment for all journalists and media practitioners in the country.
ACM said that it has noted the alleged threat of gun violence against media workers at Kaieteur News reportedly made by Attorney General Anil Nandlall and recorded by a senior reporter.
ACM said that in a statement on the allegations, the Guyana Government has described the conversation as “private; it was illegally recorded, distorted, manipulated and taken out of context to reflect a different dialogue”, and that as the Attorney General has since filed legal proceedings “the matter is currently sub-judice”.
The media body which has members in CARICOM member countries and is part of the global media association, said that it is cognizant that in the same statement, Government’s claim that the Kaieteur News was guilty of offensive publications and efforts to “solicit apologies, retractions or clarifications are met with further abuse” and “injunctions issued by the judiciary restraining offensive and libelous publications are ignored with impunity…”
“The ACM believes the government must be unambiguous in its stated commitment to freedom of the press especially as it is aware that in 2006 masked men armed with automatic weapons killed five employees of Kaieteur News printing staff execution-style.”
The media body insisted, yesterday, that it was in full, unwavering support for media workers in Guyana and called on the Guyana Government to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone, including public officials, who plot or execute violent attacks on the media.
“We also urge our media colleagues to press on and to publish without fear or favour stories deemed to be in the public

Kaieteur News Publisher, Glenn Lall

interest.
“There are sufficient guarantees in current laws to protect freedom of the press and the rights of individuals and public officials.
“Violence and the threat of violence against the media offer no solution to the tensions that arise in a modern democracy.”
ACM is an organisation of journalists and media worker associations spanning the Caribbean Basin.
ACM’s statement would follow that of the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) which also condemned Government and asked for assurances that media workers will be protected.
Late last month, Attorney General Anil Nandlall was heard making shocking threats of gunmen attacking the offices of Kaieteur News, the country’s largest newspaper.
In the 19-minute conversation, which was recorded on the reporter’s phone, the Attorney General, who is also the Minister of Legal Affairs and the chief legal advisor to Government, is heard telling the reporter to leave Kaieteur News because of an imminent attack over continuing reports published by the newspaper.
Vice Chairman of the Alliance For Chance (AFC), Moses Nagamootoo, had made it clear that the authenticity of the tape was not so important.
“This is an Attorney General that is there for 24 hours a day, so you have to own up to what you have said. Whether you are saying it to your friend, you are saying it in the capacity that you own.”
Kaieteur News Publisher, Glenn Lall, has himself expressed concerns over the police’s investigation. The file, reportedly, has been completed and sent to the Director of Public Prosecution for advice on the threats by the Minister.