The Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) of the Guyana Elections Commission says controversial remarks by President Bharrat Jagdeo at Port Mourant on March 8 were racially divisive.

In its first report on the media’s coverage of the election campaign, the MMU yesterday addressed the public outcry over the remarks by Jagdeo at a commemoration ceremony for late President, Dr Cheddi Jagan.

Noting that the entire speech by Jagdeo had been broadcast by state television, NCN, the MMU said that this opened the way for it to address the matter.

It noted that the controversial section of the speech went as follows:

“…but they consistently, they shout about racism of the PPP, but they practise racism. They whisper campaigns. In the last elections they went to some of the Afro- Guyanese villages and beat some drums at 6 O’clock in the morning and say let us throw out these coolie people. Get up, go out and vote, throw out the coolie people. That’s the kind of language they use. Anybody from our party who uses that sort of language, we will kick them out. This is our approach.” [Source: NCN TV, March 9, 2015].

After reviewing the remarks made, the MMU said it took the position that it was obvious that. Jagdeo “was using a racial mobilization incident that allegedly occurred during the 2011 elections [which, for the record, was the first time such details were ever publicly disclosed by anyone from the ruling PPP/C, the opposition political parties, local civil society, international elections observers, or the media] to make the point that racism will not be tolerated by his political party, the PPP/C. On the face of it, this is salutary. However, what was palpably disconcerting about the remarks made, is where they were uttered, the occasion on which they were stated, and the immediate receptors of the message.”

It said that Jagdeo’s comments could not be viewed in isolation from the environment in which they were uttered, noting that he was speaking in a known PPP/C stronghold, before a predominantly East Indian audience, and in a highly-charged political and ethnic environment.

“Taking into consideration the historically and politically influenced divisions that persists up to now between Africans and East Indians in this country, and which are usually more pronounced during elections periods, the Unit came to the conclusion that the anecdotal illustration used by Dr. Jagdeo to make his point about racism, boomeranged disastrously, since it came over as a calculated exploitation, for political purposes, of the known fears and insecurities of one section of the population – East Indians.

“It is within the foregoing context that the Unit verily concluded that the remarks made by Dr. Jagdeo were racially divisive (probably, not intentionally), and should have been edited by all sections of the media that broadcast or printed the remarks verbatim. The airing/publication of the comments as is, was a breach of Section B (1) of the MCC, which states inter alia, that the media should `…refrain from publishing or broadcasting any matter with the potential for, or likelihood of promoting or inciting hatred of any kind (including ethnic and political hatred)…’”

The unit noted that two television stations aired Jagdeo’s speech in- extenso, whilst one newspaper and some on-line news sites carried only the excerpted part as quoted above. At the same time, the MMU observed that many media houses from both the state and private media shied away from reproducing the full speech or the contentious part thereof. It said that the actions of these media houses should not go unmentioned and it commended them for this.

Despite the widespread criticism of his remarks, at a press conference on March 10, Jagdeo defended his presentation, saying that he was “proud” of raising the issue of race.

He said that by using a derogatory term for Indo-Guyanese, he was bringing light to “whisper campaigns” utilised by the opposition. He said that media entities were misguided in inferring that he was implying that the People’s Progressive Party is a race-oriented party.

When asked by Stabroek News for proof of racial incitements by the opposition in the 2011 general election, Jagdeo could provide none. He said that the evidence was there and his claim that opposition leaders ventured into villages beating drums and making racial remarks could be substantiated. The former president blamed the opposition for initially engaging in race-baiting citing his unsubstantiated claims of drum beating in villages prior to the 2011 general elections.

He said “They did it in South (Ruimveldt). I hope this doesn’t happen these elections because they did the last elections. We know racism exists we know they use that language to campaign but if we use it we are exacerbating it?

“You should really go after the people who used it in a derogatory way not me who is trying to fight this… Now when I want to fight that you are saying it’s some evidence of some divisiveness …

“I believe that the mere fact we are talking about it here today gives hope that everybody will be vigilant on the campaign, that we don’t use that language. And you as well as me will keep your ears open also for the whisper campaign.

“From the last election to now I can bring maybe five persons who can say we have heard this in our homes or heard that, the drum beating people walking to their homes and saying and shouting this. Would that be enough for you? Or does the Stabroek News want me to sign it and have it notarized and stuff like that?”