Guyana’s President, Dr Irfaan Ali has assured the local media fraternity and the nation that his government has no intention to use technology, including spyware, to monitor the activities of the press.
His assurance came almost immediately on the heels of the Guyana Press Association President, Nazima Raghubir, detailing the risks being faced by media outlets operating online and her request for the president to guarantee that his regime will not interfere in the media’s work.
They both spoke at the National Conference and Symposium hosted in observance of World Press Freedom Day at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), Liliendaal on Tuesday.
“This government has no intention whatsoever; it has not even contemplated my mind to move in any direction to have any spyware. I have not even imagined something like that, it will never happen, at least under this government,” he said.
President Ali further noted that under the democratic construct of a free society, no government should be spying on its population, noting that, “wherever it exists, it should be rooted.”
The President also mentioned the Cyber Crime which was passed into law in 2018 under the former coalition administration, and which ignored the then Opposition’s amendments to the bill.
“… the then opposition, we (PPP) spoke out about it, we objected to it, we placed amendments on the table, and the then government disregarded all of those amendments and went ahead with the bill,” he said.
Nevertheless, President Ali emphasised that the PPP/C Administration believes in freedom of the press. He said that his government has been the most accessible to the media and that will continue.
“There has never been anytime I am called upon, anywhere and not make myself available, not only to the media, but to the people of this country because there is where I belong, there is where I feel comfortable, I would not run away from that.”
The President also spoke about responsible journalism, even while operating in a free and democratic society.
The two-day conference is the brainchild of the Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Public Affairs, Kwame Mc Coy.
