By GHK Lall- Guyanese learned much from watching the proceedings in the National Assembly, with one being that the PPP Govt places a premium on honoring its debts. A pleasing sound to me was that posture. It was said that the PPP Govt takes its responsibilities seriously, and delivers on its duty to conduct itself in exemplary fashion. Like payment of ads to Guyana’s most trusted newspaper, Stabroek News, which could have used the past due money.
Long past due, by any measurement. My interpretation of that position was that now that the government, at very senior levels, was alerted in the House of Guyanese of the debt, there would be movements to honor the $93.8 million owed to SN. There were movement. Only it was not in a way that any Guyanese expected. Certainly not as I thought would follow.
The first movement was a low, cheap one. Literally. SN belatedly received a measly $7.4 million out of the total $93.8 million owed. By my counting, that equals approx. 7.89 cents on each dollar outstanding. However, 7.89 cents on the dollar must be a far cry from any interpretation of what responsibility means. Or resembles responsible honoring of a long accumulating debt.
To pay such a small amount seven cents plus on the dollar after almost a year of arrears is a slap in the face; adding insult to injury in a very public manner. It’s an obscenity, and all involved in this ugly affair know so; especially when the PPP Govt is so flush with cash. All things being equal, if I were the people at SN, my reaction would have been: keep yuh damn monee.
To my fellow Guyanese, I say this: can anyone see the Government of Guyana getting away with that stunt with other entities? Such as paying Exxon or LindsayCa a lousy seven cents on the dollar for millions due? Explains why Exxon collects the billions due to it right off the top (and any spare ones hanging around without an owner). Even its own so-called highly trusted partner doesn’t trust the PPP Govt.
Cash up front [from the top]; credit makes for bad friends. The latter is bad for business, as SN has experienced. After this running battle over ad allocations, ad payments, and ad differences, a fitting finale was needed to maintain the standard for responsibility, as asserted by the PPP Govt.
I thought that SN would receive all of its money in one bunch for honest services rendered, and that the matter would end on a positive note. Wrong for the second time. What came next was that literally out-of-the-blue lash; that last blow coming towards SN’s blindside. No more ads with immediate effect came rushing out from the DPI. It was the proverbial last squeeze on SN, to put it out of its misery.
Of course, it could be claimed that the PPP Govt was conducting business per standing norms. Stabroek News was given more than the normal two weeks’ notice, since March 15, its last publication day 14 days away. What an unprecedented and incomparable way of manifesting what clean government is all about.
SN as a hardcopy paper is on its last breath, and the PPP Govt was kind enough to put it out of its misery early. Delivering a hard kick to a dying man, it could be said. From a government leadership perspective, it makes no senses to continue the charade of placing ads, holding up payment, and then having to explain.
As the last rites are read for SN, there’s still a few things left to be said. When the DPI sent out its ad termination letter, these questions came. Instead of in Guyana’s National Assembly and from local lawmakers and budget debaters, I now ask some questions from the street corners.
Who in the PPP Govt is behind that no more ads decision? Which one of the government’s honorable leaders took that final fateful step, and why was it necessary at this late stage? Why engage in what reeks of abandonment of civility and duty, while cloaking it in profanity? When those questions cannot be answered cleanly, then mortally wounded is responsibility and standards in this country, and its long fall into indecency and disgrace.
Thus, a pillar of local media falls in slow motion. Yet, there are those in this country who still prattle and rattle about democracy and integrity in leadership.
