Jagdeo slams President Granger for infrequent press conferences

Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo, the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) has criticized President David Granger for not hosting frequent press conferences with media operatives.

At the time, Jagdeo was alluding to the fact that the President was interviewed by journalist, Gordon Moseley and the fact that the Head of State only spoke with one media operative.

During his most recent press briefing on Thursday, the Opposition Leader stated that the President “rarely” has any talks held with the media “because he [the President] hardly makes time for the media.”
It has been more than one year since the President has been in conference with persons from the media, and it only happened after he bowed to the pressures from the Guyana Press Association (GPA) to have it set.

Rather than interviewing the President for a few minutes on the sidelines of the events, journalists have appealed for lengthy and more in depth interactions with the head of state.

At his Church Street office, the General Secretary went on to claim that he suspects that the interview organized with Moseley “would not test him on the troubling issues that continue to plague the news cycles.”
Some of those issues include the oil and gas sector; especially in light of the fact that production of oil is set to commence in December of 2019 and the fact that the President is at the helm of the Department of Energy.

Jagdeo continued “… you would think that in the first in-depth interview he would want to define his vision for the oil and gas sector. But instead he spoke of a sovereign wealth fund that was passed after the no-confidence motion, that is dominated by the Executive President and would have to be appealed and changed; and then he talks about the Department of Energy.

We have always argued that he is unable to articulate a vision for this country and a plan consistent with that vision; and this interview just reinforces all that we have said if you watch it carefully and analyze it through those perspectives
This president is not only aloof, but he is uninformed, he is unbothered, he doesn’t take the responsibility for anything, he lives in this fairytale land where he believes because he says something that’s the reality on the ground.”

Furthermore, Jagdeo, who also serves as Opposition Leader pointed out that during the same interview, the President mentioned nothing about the Local Content Policy, how Guyanese will benefit from the sector, or how the Government is planning on protecting the rights of workers in the similar field.

“He [President Granger] knew that Moseley would not test him on the troubling issues that he has to answer. So the questions must have been shared and planned. But it is a classic speech that reinforces every single thing that we have said about this president and his government; useless incompetent, corrupt, visionless,” he concluded.