GECOM controversy had been ventilated extensively on Walter Rodney Groundings programme
Dear Editor,
I write this letter to seek clarity from my distinguished, longstanding comrade and friend, David Hinds, on a remark he made in his November 11th, 2017 “Hinds’ Sight” column in the Sunday Chronicle captioned, “Political decisions have consequences”.
In his column Hinds made the observation that the APNU+AFC coalition in rela- tion to President David Granger’s unilateral action of naming a chairperson for GECOM, failed to do the required public education in an attempt at creating its own political narrative to win what was/is a battle of credibility. On this score I agree with his position.
However, he went on to state, “This government to its detriment, depends on
PR rather than PN (Political Narratives). I am not certain what he is saying here and I would welcome an explanation from him of what is it he was attempting to point out. But, more importantly, I was taken aback by his question that followed the above, “Where were the likes of Aubrey Norton, Tacuma Ogunseye and Gary Best before the decision was made”? Because I am not sure what was intended by the question, I believe it is important to let David know that from the commencement of the controversy, that is, after Opposition Leader Jagdeo had submitted his first list to President Granger, Deon Abrams, Desmond Trotman and I, had, on at least three occasions on the Walter Rodney Groundings programme, which is aired on HBTV CH 9, dealt extensively on this matter. Particular emphasis was made on the political and constitutional jeopardies inherent in the decisions that could be made. Our discussions took place long before the President announced his decision.
Having expressed my views on the issue of the GECOM Chairmanship on several occasions on Groundings, I felt no compulsion to pen a letter on this matter to the newspapers. It is therefore difficult to understand why my friend and comrade, David, would want to interpret my, not having addressed my concerns in the print media as a failure to do so at all. David, more than anyone else is aware that the newspapers is not the only medium available to persons to state their public positions on important national issues, political and otherwise. Yours faithfully, Tacuma Ogunseye