The tape
Editorial
A touch of madness afflicted the nation last week. The source of the affliction was a tape, allegedly made by Mr Andrew Douglas, who is currently being held on charges of armed robbery. Whether Mr Douglas really is the author of the recording is not something which has been established to the satisfaction of the ordinary citizen; however, even the Government in last week's press releases appears to have proceeded on the assumption that he was. Since the overwhelming majority of Guyanese have not heard the tape, they have had to rely on fifth, fifteenth and twentieth-hand accounts of its contents circulating around the beer gardens, or if not, they maybe have listened to certain intense gentlemen on TV who have been privy to its supposed revelations. Whatever the case, at least some of the allegations said to have been made on it are so extraordinary as to be plainly absurd. The country is no stranger to wild rumours; the population thrives on them. While this particular rumour was a lot more sinister than most, it still might have remained out of the mainstream had the CANA news agency not seen fit to give it credence and respectability by running a story about it. Why they did so has still not been explained. In the first place, they would have to have been certain about the provenance of the tape, and in the second, they would have to have had viable evidence that its allegations, more especially given their gravity, had some substance. If they were satisfied on both those counts, then they should also have sought comments from the Government about the accusations made against its officials which they then should have incorporated into their news report. As things stand, the agency has neither stood by its story, indicating that it was satisfied about its veracity, nor has it apologized to the Government, which it certainly should have done if it could not endorse its own report. Not surprisingly, the Government was incensed when the CANA story appeared. In a flush of anger, which while quite understandable, nevertheless perhaps did not reflect the best of wisdom, it fired off a stormy press release invoking the name of the PNC leader, and implying that the PNC had planted the tape. Up to that point, the PNC as such, had made no statement whatever about the tape, and other issues apart, from a purely tactical point of view there was no reason for the Government gratuitously to create an opening for them to do so. The administration's second thought was much better than its first; on the following day Minister Nagamootoo requested an apology from the CANA news agency. The Government's initial statement, however, had already brought Mr Hoyte thundering to the microphone demanding a full-scale investigation into accusations which he claimed were entirely credible. The immoderate tone of his allegations, not to mention their substance, then brought the inevitable riposte, this time from Freedom House. It took President Jagdeo at his press conference on Friday to short-circuit the exchanges by saying that he had asked the Minister of Home Affairs and the police to investigate the allegations on the tape. It was a laudable and eminently sensible move. However, one can only lament the fact that such a nebulous item as this particular recording should now have to absorb the attention of the understaffed authorities. Nevertheless, if in the process of investigating the allegations on the tape, they can establish its origins and exactly how it insinuated itself into the public arena, they would be doing the nation a service. All of this mischief has been caused even before an election date has been set, so what is in store for the people of Guyana when electioneering starts in earnest, goodness only knows. In the meantime, however, rational citizens will treat any document of mysterious provenance with suspicion; allegations which are to be taken seriously are presented through the regular channels, and are backed with some kind of believable evidence.
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