See release from Leader of Forward Guyana Movement (FGM), Amanza Walton-Desir:
I note with grave concern the decision by the Speaker of the National Assembly to severely restrict media access to the Budget Debates of the 13th Parliament.
The measures imposed, limiting access to only five journalists at any given time, requiring the surrender of National ID cards or driver’s licences, and prohibiting independent media cameras while forcing reliance solely on footage produced by the state-controlled Department of Public Information, constitute a serious assault on press freedom, transparency, and the public’s right to information.
Parliament is not the property of the Speaker, the Government, or the state media. It belongs to the people of Guyana. The media are not guests to be managed at convenience. The Fourth Estate is an essential democratic safeguard and a cornerstone of accountability.
The attempt to justify these restrictions by reference to a limited, time-bound COVID-19 arrangement from 2020 is disingenuous and indefensible. To invoke emergency public health measures six years later, while going even further than those restrictions, reflects either a disregard for the intelligence of the public or a willingness to distort the record to justify authoritarian conduct.
When a government restricts independent observation by the media, monopolizes official narratives, and conditions access to public institutions on the surrender of personal identification, they cross a line. That line separates democratic governance from political control.
History is unequivocal on this point. When lawful channels of scrutiny, accountability, and expression are closed, public frustration does not dissipate when it accumulates. When citizens are denied transparency, they do not become passive. When institutions silence oversight, they invite resistance rather than respect.
Guyana is now a petroleum-producing state under heightened international observation. Decisions taken within our Parliament today are neither isolated nor invisible. They are observed, assessed, and remembered.
I therefore call on the Government of Guyana to immediately correct this decision and publicly distance itself from these actions. I also call on the diplomatic community, international partners, and democracy monitoring institutions to take note of this disturbing regression.
No democracy can claim legitimacy while silencing the media.
We cannot claim to be moving forward while deliberately walking backward into repression. Parliament must be open. The media must be free. The Speaker must be reminded that his office exists to uphold democratic norms, not to erode them.
Sincerely,
Hon. Amanza O.R. Walton, MP
