GPA tells House Speaker he’s referring to COVID-19 agreement on media access

Last Updated on Wednesday, 4 February 2026, 21:42 by Writer

Even as House Speaker Manzoor Nadir challenged A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) parliamentarian Sherod Duncan to introduce a motion to provide for unrestricted media access to the parliamentary chamber to cover sittings, the Guyana Press Association (GPA) on Tuesday night rubbished claims by Mr Nadir that there is an existing agreement with the Parliament Office.

“The GPA reiterates that there exists no current agreement between the Parliament and the GPA over media access, and previous meetings and an agreement in 2020 was specific to covering the National Assembly during the COVID-19 pandemic and in light of the COVID-19 restrictions nationally,” the association said in a statement.

Responding to Mr Duncan’s call, the Speaker told him that the number of permitted reporters was increased from five to seven.

Before expunging Mr Duncan’s call from the parliamentary record, the Speaker told him he was free to submit a motion with changes to the parliamentary rules for media access.

“You can bring a motion to the House, have it debated, passed and I will implement those,” he told the House.

“In the meanwhile, what has existed in this House up to the end of the last sitting of the 12th Parliament of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana has been expanded. That position was established in consultation with the Guyana Press Association,” he added.

Mr Nadir maintained that “no one is restricted from covering the proceedings of this House.”

He did not mention on Tuesday that he also ruled that no television news cameras would be allowed in the Chamber.

But the GPA said the agreement to which the House Speaker is referring was for the period of COVID-19 restrictions.

The association is calling for the removal of all restrictions and a return to the pre-COVID situation when there was no cap on the number of reporters and camera persons.

Following is the GPA’s press statement.

The Guyana Press Association (GPA) hereby debunks the fallacious misrepresentations by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Nadir made during the 3rd Sitting of the House on Monday, 2nd February and Tuesday, 3rd February 2026.

1. The Speaker erroneously gives the impression that there is an extant agreement between the Guyana Press Association (GPA) and the Parliament Office of Guyana. The agreement to which he refers explicitly and unambiguously states that it was for media coverage of the 1st and subsequent Sittings of the National Assembly of the Twelfth Parliament of Guyana and “these arrangements are in keeping with COVID-19 measures.”

Since the end of the COVID-19 restrictions in March 2022, the media restrictions by the National Assembly had been relaxed, resulting in more than five reporters and more than one individual private TV news cameras being allowed once again in the Chamber. It is rather unfortunate that the Speaker of the National Assembly has been repeatedly invoking an agreement that is no longer applicable and relevant post-COVID-19.

The Speaker needs to be reminded or informed that at Parliament Building on Brickdam, the press table accommodated as many as twelve journalists. Additionally, with the steady growth of the media over the years, reporters and several news television camerapersons were also accommodated behind the public gallery at the smaller Parliament Building. There are at least 15 news media located in Georgetown.

2. The Speaker appears to have further contradicted himself by referring to Standing Order 110 that states “The Speaker may grant a general permission to the representative of any media to attend Sittings of the Assembly under such rules as the National Assembly may make from time to time. If such rules are contravened, such permission may be revoked”. This stance by the Speaker begs the question of where and what are the “rules” governing media access that the National Assembly made by a motion.

3. The Speaker of the National Assembly appears to have been misadvised or has misinterpreted advice concerning the use of phones to record sittings of the National Assembly. Therefore, the GPA takes this opportunity to inform him that cellular phones cannot be used in such a setting to record audio and video with broadcast quality. Phone-recorded videos are not a substitute for professional video cameras, hence that cannot be a valid reason for crunching the number of reporters to five or seven.

4. Reference was made to a feed that was being provided by Parliament. Factually there is no direct audio-video feed for cameras inside the dome and this is unacceptable. Media houses have been told that they will be provided with a link from the Department of Public Information (DPI), which has proven unreliable, with frequent audio breaks and interruptions. An online link cannot be considered a direct feed, as it does not provide continuous, unfiltered access to parliamentary proceedings.

5. The GPA also reiterates its rejection of the decision by the Speaker to keep out all cameras except those by the DPI which was contracted, according to him, to provide video coverage. The DPI has since made it clear that it has no arrangement with the Parliament to disseminate or provide any video links to the media.

6. The GPA states unequivocally that there is sufficient space to accommodate more than seven reporters and more than three private camerapersons at any given time. The fact of the matter is that no reporter or cameraperson covers an entire parliamentary sitting as this depends on editorial judgement. However, there will be occasions when all of them will be present, again, based on editorial decision-making.

Against the background of the foregoing, the GPA reiterates its position that the decision by the Speaker of the National Assembly to limit and restrict media access to the National Assembly is an attack on media freedom and affects the fair, timely and transparent coverage of the Parliament of Guyana.

The association recalls that back in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the GPA engaged the Speaker and the Minister responsible for Public Information, on seating arrangements and coverage of the National Assembly while national COVID-19 protocols were in place. The GPA reiterates that there exists no current agreement between the Parliament and the GPA over media access, and previous meetings and an agreement in 2020 was specific to covering the National Assembly during the COVID-19 pandemic and in light of the COVID-19 restrictions nationally.

To recap recent events this week; in the lead up to the 2026 Budget presentation, members of the media reached out to the GPA with concerns about providing coverage of the Budget presentation as they were in receipt of information that there would have been some limitations because of accommodation constraints for the Budget presentation. Accompanied by Executive Member, Gordon Moseley, the President of the GPA, Iva Wharton, met with the Clerk of the National Assembly on the issues raised by members. The Public Relations Officer of the Parliament Office also attended the meeting.

The concerns were raised with the Clerk agreeing that the concerns were valid. During the meeting, the Clerk contacted the Speaker via phone and offered to have him engage the GPA team by placing his phone on speaker. The Speaker refused and made it clear to the Clerk (as was relayed) that his position is that only five members of the media will be allowed access to the National Assembly sitting and there would be no cameras allowed.

The GPA team raised its concern and left a formal letter expressing the concern of media workers, while also seeking an audience with the Speaker.

The following day while the Speaker and other Parliamentary staff were at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre preparing for the sitting of the Assembly, the GPA President Iva Wharton and Executive Member Gordon Moseley attempted to have an audience with the Speaker to address the concern. He refused to meet and instructed the Clerk to meet with the team and again reinforce his position.

On Budget Day, two days later, the GPA President who was at Parliament Building in her capacity as a journalist to cover the swearing in of the Opposition Leader, was told that the Speaker was requesting a meeting with her at the Conference Centre. During the meeting, Ms. Wharton again relayed the concerns of media workers and the Press Association.

The Speaker stood by his position and the media access to the Assembly was limited and restricted.

The GPA was never engaged again by the Speaker or any other representative of the National Assembly ahead of this week’s reinforcement of the Speaker’s position and reporters now being asked to lodge their National ID Cards or Driver’s license before being allowed limited access to the Assembly by five journalists.