Beware the government that comes bearing gifts, especially when the gift is a “free” education in the art of storytelling, administered by its most notorious propagandist. The recent feel-good press release from the Office of the Prime Minister, celebrating the Guyana Media and Communication Academy, is not a testament to national development. It is a blueprint for state-sanctioned media capture, a cynical and audacious attempt to co-opt and silence the next generation of Guyanese journalists and creators before they even begin their careers.
The entire endeavor is fatally compromised by its very architecture. A program meant to foster independent media and communication should be the purview of the University of Guyana or a genuine, non-partisan civil society organization. Instead, it is situated firmly under the domain of Kwame McCoy, a man whose public profile is less that of an educator and more that of a political enforcer. This is not an opinion; it is a matter of public record. This is the same Kwame McCoy who has been accused of physically assaulting a Member of Parliament by hitting her in the face with a phone, an act of violence that stands in stark, ugly contrast to the sanitized image of a minister laughing and learning to frame a shot in a boardroom.
The government, through McCoy, speaks of “investing in people,” “strengthening livelihoods,” and equipping citizens for a “modern digital economy.” The unspoken subtext is far more sinister: we will invest in you, so long as you tell our story. We will strengthen your livelihood, so long as your creativity serves our narrative. We will equip you for the digital economy, so long as you use your skills to amplify propaganda rather than question it.
The press release itself is a masterpiece of Orwellian doublespeak. McCoy warns that “you can’t really survive today successfully as a country unless you transition fully to becoming a digital society.” He is correct. But a truly digital, informed society requires a media that is free to criticize, to investigate, and to hold power to account, not one that is trained, funded, and credentialed by the very power it is supposed to scrutinize.
His emphasis on “strong communication, adaptability and critical thinking” is particularly rich, coming from a figure representing an administration that has shown a profound intolerance for any criticism that doesn’t align with its “transformative” agenda. What “critical thinking” is being taught when the course coordinator reports to a political operative? The goal is not to create critical thinkers, but compliant messengers.
The most manipulative part of this charade is the economic argument. McCoy boasts that this training, worth “US$2,000 or more,” is provided at no cost. He is correct to highlight its value, for that is the precise cost of the leash being offered. By creating a dependency on government-provided skills and government-certified credentials, the PPP is building a class of communicators who are beholden to the state. The message is clear; play by our rules, tell our stories, and you will be rewarded with opportunity. Step out of line, and that pipeline of state-sponsored “investment” will dry up.
The image of trainees guiding McCoy through a lighting setup, and the minister “clipping footage” and “shaping a finished story,” is a perfect, chilling metaphor for the entire scheme. The political overlord is literally being taught how to frame the narrative, while the aspiring journalists are being taught that their role is to assist him in doing so.
This is not an investment in human capital; it is a down payment on narrative control. It is an attempt to ensure that the story of Guyana’s future is not told by a diverse, independent, and fearless media, but by a state-trained cadre of “content creators” who understand that their professional survival depends on their allegiance. The Guyana Media and Communication Academy is not a school for journalists. It is a ministry of truth in the making, and every Guyanese who values a free press should see it for the Trojan horse that it is.
