…the music (of journalists)!
Technically, your Eyewitness figures he’s a member of the journalistic community – the “fourth estate” sounds a bit too high falutin’ for his taste!! So he hopes his comments on their recent request will be taken in good stead. He’s referring to the “seniors” lobbying for a lobby to get President David Granger to host more press conferences.
Well, that won’t be difficult to do, since he only held two in the three years he’s been in office!! Now, this won’t be the first “lobby” on this subject; more than a year after the first one in October 2015, civil society groups pilloried the President for the dearth of press conferences, and he grudgingly promised to do better when he got back from the CariCom HOG in early July 2017. Well, it must’ve slipped his mind, because it wasn’t until Dec 15, 2017 that he invited the press corps to meet him at State House.
Now, it could be that by this time the President had painted the building a putrid colour of green, because he said the Government was “going green”!! But your Eyewitness can’t remember any of the journalists there actually “bearding” the President. And this was even though the topic de jour was the US$18 million Exxon bonus, which had been secreted away in the Bank of Guyana!! Granger bluntly told the journalists – and all the “old heads” there – “I don’t accept the way we handled the bonus was illegal”!! And not a dog barked!! The performance was in no way different from the stage-managed affairs the President used to have on a programme his office produced called “Public Interest”!
Your Eyewitness wants to know: if these assembled journalists weren’t prepared to follow up the President’s bald assertion on such an egregious act, what exactly will they be asking him if he finally agrees to another press conference by year end?? Will they be pinning him down to some substantive answers? The bottom line is: your Eyewitness thinks the press is going about this matter half-assed backwards.
So what if the President doesn’t want to face the press? From the two he’s held, do they think they’ll get a straight answer on anything? This man practised journalism for more years that most of the journalists who’ll face him. What the press ought to be doing – as they ought to be doing with anyone they want to write about — is focus on his ACTIONS, not words!! Analyse those actions – such as unilaterally appointing the GECOM chair; the energy czar; or (soon) the Chancellor of the Judiciary!
And write what those actions mean – whether for the “good life” he promised Guyanese, or for “good governance” he promised Guyana!
…the verdict on “green” energy
A bureaucrat had to admit what no one in the Government dared do: on the centrepiece strategy defining their administration – all green energy by 2025 – they’ve failed!! Now, if you can’t succeed in your number one goal, what can we expect on the other goals? Shall we bring up sensitive matters, such as a “Code of Conduct”, and such like?? Naah…Your Eyewitness has those Warriors games in his eye, and as such, he can’t help but be kind!!
What exactly is the PNC-led Government’s problem with executing a green-energy strategy, especially when the predecessor PPP administration had the identical aim – only they called it “Low Carbon Development Strategy” (LCDS)? And that’s the problem right there, isn’t it?? When you’re cogging wholesale, you’ve got to be different in some way, so as not to make it too obvious! And in green-energy sufficiency, the wankers decided to ignore Amaila Falls Hydro – which even the Norwegians told them was THE ONLY way to go!!
They’ve cut Guyana’s nose to save their face!!
…favouritism and unilateralism
Everybody’s been wondering why the President picked a fella with absolutely NO experience in oil and gas to be his energy czar. Well it took an academic to give the answer.
The man’s been writing for Granger’ since 1996!! Book learning is it!!