The attack against Express reporter Anna Ramdass by Information Minister Neil Parsanlal was cleverly buttressed by a release from the PNM that saw no sin in the use of taxpayers’ money to advertise the fact that the new Prime Minister of Grenada was going to pay an official state visit to T&T.
The PNM’s release said: “The promotion of the visit is no different from the promotions done for the visits of the presidents of Uganda and Ghana.”
The party considered “this attack on its leader, describing him as ‘Mr Show-off,’ to be yet another example of the lack of fairness by a reporter."
Private jet
“This story was clearly calculated to bring the PM and the PNM government into disrepute.”
It called on the reporter to apologise for “this international faux pas.”
The article that caused such great consternation led off with criticisms from eminent political scientist, Prof Selwyn Ryan, who saw it as an unnecessary abuse of public funds.
“These are vanity ads. I can’t believe that we are paying for that ad. That will be totally ridiculous. It is extravagant and uncalled for,” said Dr Ryan. “We're happy to welcome the Prime Minister of Grenada, but an ad of this sort, given the cost, is totally uncalled for and a wasting of public funds.”
Mr Ryan does not normally rush to criticise the government, and his outrage in this regard is reflective of the seething rage people on the ground feel over such scandalous expenditure at a time when the cost of living is moving beyond the reach of so many, and the standard of living is under threat by criminal elements.
Perhaps, Parsanlal (whose noblest claim to fame is the oft-repeated claim that he is “the quintessential dougla”—as if this somehow makes him smarter, more Trini or impervious to criticism) should try explaining why it is necessary for the Government to spend money advertising such a visit (including the cost of a private jet and all):
Parsanlal’s justification for the advertisement included the following gem:
“The history of the Caribbean is evolving as we speak. And the prime ministers have been changed in several countries. We don't want to wait until that history is recorded, documented and published in a book somewhere.
So we decided to put out information that is live and current and that can be used by students, as well as by the general population and the media.
So the people who are seeing it as the Prime Minister 'showing off' have, therefore, missed the entire point.”
There was no explanation as to why the usual comprehensive national and regional media coverage would not have sufficed.
Coverage by the national media, which includes state-owned and government-friendly television and radio stations, and the regional media coverage would have been more than adequate for this purpose.
Media coverage of such meetings has traditionally been quite good, and Mr Tillman’s election was well- documented here as media houses covered the Grenada general election in detail.
Salt in wounds
Parsanlal is the one that has completely missed the point. These advertisements reflect the arrogance and megalomaniac tendencies of a government led by a typical Caribbean tin-god with an exaggerated sense of self-importance.
Flying in regional and international leaders and then unnecessarily advertising the visit is like rubbing salt into the wounds of the people at a time when many are forced to flee their homeland because of uncontrollable crime and poor service from under-resourced state agencies.
An official press release from the Office of the Prime Minister to the media would more than suffice, as such (necessary) state visits are always well covered.
Parsanlal’s response maintains the arrogance of the Government. He condemned the biased article against the Government for not carrying the Government’s response, but cleverly omitted to mention the fact that he did not return the reporter’s repeated calls to his cellphone.
He ended on a typical PMN high note, issuing the not-so-veiled threat that the newspaper was free to decline carrying government advertisements if it felt they were wrong.
The coded message is clear: watch it or else advertising revenue from the Government could dry up and your competitors who favour us could profit at your expense! Dangerous foolishness and quintessential PNM arrogance from a government with dictatorial tendencies.
Not ah damn dog must bark, they say.
By Anand Ramlogan
Site Admin Note:
See TT Express Links below before they disappear - as they tend to on these kinds of matters.
Parsanlal: Thomas ads only for public info