President Ali assures that Gov’t has no intention of using spyware to monitor local media

On Tuesday, President Irfaan Ali assured media operatives and citizens that the government has no intention of using modern technology such as, spyware to monitor their activities. President Ali was at the time addressing members of the media fraternity at the National Conference and Symposium hosted in observance of World Press Freedom Day at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), Liliendaal.

Ali’s statement came after President of the Guyana Press Association (GPA), Nazima Raghubir called on the administration to assure journalists and media houses that it will not utilise spyware such as Pegasus. “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,” Ali promised.

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 Head of State 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.

The President stressed that the PPP/C Administration believes in freedom of the press. He disclosed 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,” Ali assured.

President Ali commented about responsible journalism, even while operating in a free and democratic society. He revealed that the two-day conference is the brainchild of Public Affairs Minister, Kwame Mc Coy. Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, Junior Housing and Water Minister, Susan Rodrigues, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, Public Service Minister, Sonia Parag, Local Government and Regional Development Minister, Nigel Dharamlall and Human Services and Social Security Minister, Dr. Vindhya Persaud, were among those in attendance at the opening as well as members of the diplomatic community.

It was revealed that World Press Freedom Day 2022 is being observed under the theme ‘Journalism Under Digital Siege’.