THE heads of the Guyana Press Association (GPA), Mr. Gordon Moseley and the Head of the local Bar Association, Mr. Ronald Burch-Smith, yesterday said that abuse of journalists must not happen and cannot be condoned.

Gordon Moseley

Their responses follow reports of a senior reporter attached to the National Communications Network (NCN), Edward Layne, being verbally abused by the Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan, a Member of Parliament (MP) and member of the Bar,
in an allegedly expletive-laden tirade, Ramjattan refused to respond to a query over his promise to lodge a formal complaint with the police on the alleged “buy-out” of three Members of Parliament (MPs) by the ruling People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C).
AFC Leader is reported to have told Layne, “The PPP send you fuh ask me stupidness. Why you don’t haul you ass. What the sk*** you think, calling to ask me me fu**** stupidness.”
He subsequently dared the reporter to go public with the conversation.
The head of the Bar Association, yesterday, said, “It should not happen. Abuse of journalists should not happen.”

RONALD BURCH-SMITH

Additionally, Moseley said: “The GPA wishes to once again call on all political parties, the governing and Opposition parties, to be reminded that journalists, regardless of whether they are in the employ of the state media or the independent media, ought to be allowed to carry out their jobs in an environment that is free from fear and intimidation.
“The GPA would also like to remind media houses of the responsibilities that rest on the shoulders of their workers in the execution of their duties and would like to encourage our journalists to continue to be fearless in their reporting on the issues of the day.”

HOSTILE RESPONSE
Layne’s query, which sparked Ramjattan’s hostility, followed statements made by Ramjattan in mid-September.
The AFC Leader, at a press conference in mid-September, had said his party was “reliably informed” that the PPP/C Government, against whom the No-Confidence Motion has been filed, has plans to “buy out” at least three parliamentarians at $30M each to vote against the motion when it comes up for debate next month. However, the main Opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has denied that this allegation concerns any of their MPs and the AFC holds the same position – a fact that has led to questions of the merits of Ramjattan’s allegation.
According to Layne, Ramjattan was hostile when posed with his query.
He said: “About 13:53hrs on Friday, October 31, 2014, I made telephone contact with Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, Leader of the AFC for a comment on a matter of national importance.
“I, in a very professional manner, identified myself and the media house I represent to Mr. Ramjattan, I then proceeded to ask Mr. Ramjattan why he has not released the evidence he has of three Opposition members of parliament offered $30M each to vote against the no-confidence motion one month after he made these allegations (September 18, 2014) and whether or not he had reported the matter to the police. I was met with extreme hostility.
“Mr. Ramjattan accused me of working for the PPP and rattled off a series of expletives.
“I proceeded to ask Mr. Ramjattan whether his utterances were his official comment, to which he answered in the affirmative and said ‘you publish what I said, I don’t care what you want to write. Boy look haul your ass, what the r@ss you think.”
“Ramjattan is the leader of one of the political parties which on one hand constantly accuse NCN and its sister state media agencies of not providing coverage to them and on the other hand cuss us out when we try to provide coverage to them.”