I feel humiliated’ — former Chronicle editor forced to retire early
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AFTER returning to work, following a period of no-pay leave to recover from medical procedures, on Tuesday, Chamanlall Naipaul contends that he “feels humiliated” at being told that under a “new dispensation” there was no place for him at the Guyana Chronicle. The media veteran has worked with the State newspaper for some 14 years now.
He told Citizens’ Report that he was informed by senior management that “under the new dispensation” it would be best if he proceeded into early retirement.
“After all the sacrifices I have made for that paper, I feel humiliated. I was prepared to work. I said so, but I was told that management didn’t think I should come back,” he said.
Naipaul was acting Sunday Editor, up to the time of his illness. That post has since been filled by former Capitol News reporter, Neil Marks.
The now former Guyana Chronicle employee disclosed that his illness was used to “polish off” the fact that he was being “discarded” despite his years of service and his contributions to the company.
However, he added that the “polish” didn’t shine for long.
“What I was told was that if I do not proceed on early retirement I could be fired on medical grounds,” Naipaul said.
Also a teacher, before joining the media corps, he expressed the view that he bowed to the demands of management and accepted the move to early retirement, since working in an environment where his services were not wanted seemed the worst option.
Naipaul disclosed too that on leaving he was paid accumulated monies due to him, millions less than if he had been allowed to work until he reached retirement age.
“I went to work with an open mind. I expected changes, in terms of reallocation of duties, but not this,” he lamented.
Notably, since the change in Government, the acting Editor-in-Chief, Mark Ramotar, was also replaced. Nigel Williams was appointed substantively to the post, effective September 1, and Ramotar is currently working with the paper as an editor.
These changes matched against the arguments of Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo that the Guyana Chronicle is not a State newspaper, but a government paper are worrying, with the Guyana Press Association (GPA) being the latest to rap the Prime Minister for his comments.
“The GPA regards the Prime Minister’s stated pro-government expectations of the publicly-funded Guyana Chronicle newspaper (and presumably all State-owned media) as a retrograde and intolerable step that betrays the governing Coalition’s campaign and post-election promises not to engage in the same press freedom violations previous administrations were accused of,” the Association said.
The GPA has since called for a clear distinction to be made between the Government and the State and for reform of the Broadcasting Act and the adoption of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s editorial guidelines that govern that United Kingdom State-owned and funded broadcaster.