ST GEORGE’S – Media workers in the main yesterday adhered to a request from the Media Workers Association of Grenada (MWAG) and boycotted a news conference called by Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell to introduce members of his new Cabinet following his first major cabinet reshuffle 24 hours earlier.
MWAG president Gerard Joseph in a statement called for the boycott “in light of Thursday’s developments regarding the presentation of Instruments of Appointment and the government’s decision to exclude the press from witnessing and covering same”.
He said MWAG is “asking and encouraging all of our members to stand in solidarity by boycotting the news conference,” adding “we believe it is in the best interest of media workers and the cause of Press Freedom to signal to the government that we are not willing to accept such treatment on matters related to public interest.
“It is our hope that members will grasp the importance of such an action and choose to not attend the news conference in person or virtually,” Joseph said, adding that the Cabinet reshuffle “can be reported on without using any clips from today’s news conference by getting independent reactions to the changes”.
But Prime Minister Mitchell, who made his second Cabinet re-shuffle since coming to office in June last year, said at Friday’s event where the new ministers all pledged allegiance to him and Grenada, “we are happy to be here and to share that information with everyone at the same time, not just the media, but the members of the public as well.
“All the Ministers are here and they are quite happy to take questions and to engage with the media. So from our perspective, we have not instituted any boycott of the media, any blackout of the media”.
Mitchell, an attorney, said that the internal processes which pertains to the taking of the oath of office is done at the official residence of Governor General Dame Cecile La Grenade and ‘you will appreciate I have no control over the Governor General’s residence nor her schedule.
“As we speak she is out of the island and so we had to ensure that our Ministers could in fact take the oath in accordance with the Governor General’s schedule if we wished to have the appointments made effective today.
“So the oaths were taken by the Ministers yesterday, made effective as of today’s date, principally to accommodate the travel schedule of the Governor General and obviously we are here this morning to meet with the media and to inform the nation of the changes that have occurred,” Mitchell told the single weekly newspaper journalist who was present in the room and another on line. (CMC)
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