MMU says politicians want to shut them up

[www.inewsguyana.com] – The Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has stated in its third report that it never signed a pact with any politician or political party in this country and as such, it will never succumb to, or be amenable to political diktat.

This statement is in response to the many criticisms leveled at the unit by politicians.

Signed by its Manager, Lavern Pinto, the report noted that “the undue criticisms of our work have now crested a level that necessitates a response. In this regard, we make bold to say that the unrelenting attacks against the Unit bear the distinguishable hallmarks of a plot aimed at shutting us up, for reasons that might not be too difficult to fathom”.

And in view of those “unrelenting attacks”, the MMU said “to those politicians who are slinging barbs in our direction, we would like them to remember what happened during and after the 1992, 1997 and 2001 pre-, and post-elections periods in this country, when an unregulated media was used as the main tool for fomenting internecine strife; and the consequences of the societal disorder that eventuated.

Further, the MMU warned that “by unjustifiably belittling the work of the Unit, and in an oblique way trying to muzzle us, we believe those whom are deliberately stirring up public animosity against us, may unwittingly be encouraging a return of invidious behaviors into the political arena, that Guyanese are loath to remember, much less experience again”.

Ever since the MMU released its first report to the public on April 8, 2015, it has been accused of all manner of impertinence by leading and well-known politicians in the country.

Some choice pejorative terms such as “Rogue Unit” has been used to define the Unit while its reports have been assailed publicly as “full of rhetoric and aimed at creating civil unrest”.

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Clement Rohee had told a news conference on April 27 that the MMU reports are “full of rhetoric and aimed at creating civil unrest in our country at such a sensitive period…such statements aimed at the PPP is tantamount to an attack on our democracy.”

“The wild and loose attack on Former President Bharrat Jagdeo seems to be opposition driven and draws much comparison to Kaieteur News, iNews and Stabroek News attacks on Jagdeo. The MMU should not be allowed to be used as an Opposition mouthpiece and operate as a law onto itself,” said Rohee.

In the face of all these allegations made against the MMU, Pinot said “our group of qualified, trained and hard-working staff, over the past month or so, we have remained stoic, and to a large extent, deliberately mute, because we are comforted by the reality that they are unfounded. Indeed, no rational mind would read our Reports and arrive at such tangled analyses or convoluted conclusions as we have been witnessing recently”.

And in the midst of all the slanders being heaped upon them, the MMU wished to reiterate three (3) salient points, and hope that their detractors grasp and understand their import: (1) The Unit’s remit is exclusive to media content only; (2) The Reports are duly premised on the Elections Media Code of Conduct; and (3) The MMU have never sought to involve themselves in the politics of the country.

The report stated that “in a surreal kind of way, it is rather bemusing that a body like the MMU which diligently seeks to facilitate responsible media self-regulation in this country, would inadvertently raise the ire of politicians. We can very well understand if perchance media houses cited for violations of the MCC, vent their disapprovals to us. Such is expected and welcomed. But, to be attacked so stridently and callously by petulant politicians is somewhat unnerving, especially when those attacks have no basis in fact or context”.

The Unit stated that their work is taken seriously, and that despite the disquieting distractions that abound, they have resolved not to be nonplused.

The MMU said it will therefore continue to execute its mandate in a fair, objective and professional manner at all times, with their prime obligation being to the local media fraternity.