BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE following is a letter to the Editor sent by a “Concerned Citizen” published in its entirety:
“For many years, while in my homeland I have listened to the radio and viewed on the government-owned TV Station, as well as while in my US adopted home, I have listened to and read via Internet the political situations that exist in St. Kitts and Nevis.
Three of the political situations that interest me are the despicable behaviour in Parliament by Prime Minister Douglas, his Ask the PM programme on ZIZ and his monthly Press Conference. I will, however, deal with the latter two and leave the former for another time.
With the exception of Parliamentary Debates, the Prime Minister’s Press Secretary, Erasmus Williams is the host of the Tuesday mornings Ask the PM and the monthly Press Conferences.
What bothers me is the manner in which Erasmus Williams controls the contributors to and participants of, respectively, these two events. Before I address these two matters, let me firstly remind the older generation and sensitise the younger of a man called Joseph Goebbels.
Goebbels was the notorious Adolph Hitler’s Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda and one of the most influential people in Nazi Germany who was overall in charge of the party’s propaganda machinery. It is said that his sharp tongue made him enemies in the Nazi Party where some called him the “Poison Dwarf”.
During the Second World War, it was easy for Goebbels to persuade the public that things were going well when the war was going Germany’s way. However, this became a lot more difficult after the Battle of Stalingrad. This was portrayed on film as a failing of generals on the eastern front not showing enough commitment to the Nazi cause. Goebbels demanded "total war" from the Germans and in 1944 he was appointed Reich Commissioner for Total Mobilisation. (See www.historylearningsite.co.uk/joseph_goebbels.htm).
Should we classify Erasmus Williams in the same category as Goebbels? No, I would say…not in its entirety, but as a peddler of propaganda; because, unlike Goebbels, Erasmus is not involved in the annihilation of people who oppose his leader. He is however accused of being intimately involved in the distortion of information, manipulation of reporters at the Prime Minister’s monthly Press Conference where Dr. Douglas side steps important and relevant questions as well as verbally abuse reporters, and allows excessive time to Labour supporters who ask no question on the Ask the PM programme.
I dare anyone who confutes the above statements, for there is enough evidence to justify them. Take, for example, the last two episodes of Ask the PM when Retired Major Leroy ‘Fishy’ Perceval, who read from a prepared speech – unwritten and cohesive speech is out of his character – was allowed by Erasmus for almost seven minutes. Fishy had even assassinated the character of a former Permanent Secretary but was not rebuked. When interrupted by Erasmus, who said, “Could you rap up caller”, he was blatantly told by Fishy, “Could you give me a chance to express myself to the Prime Minister”, and Erasmus humbled. But when a female contributor, shortly after Fishy, called and was making her preambles, Erasmus disgustingly said, “Caller, ask your question”. Is that democracy? Why wasn’t she given the same privilege as Fishy? Erasmus even had the gall to cut off a caller who was bent on preambles before asking questions.
The action was repeated last week with Fishy and his parables and again besmirching people’s character for another seven uninterrupted minutes. However, when Mrs. Henry made her statement on Premier Parry’s response to a caller on the SIDF, Erasmus butted in. Also when she spoke to the Dubai issue and the Lex Consulting fiasco involving Alex Woodley, she was chastised by the Prime Minister for allegedly besmirching his children mother’s character. Again is this democracy? Couldn’t the host, Erasmus, remind the Prime Minister that he had allowed Fishy to besmirch other people’s character? Maybe, just maybe, he might have told him after the programme that the same way in which he said Mrs. Henry was not allowed to do so on his programme, in said manner Fishy should have been told. Or instead, Erasmus must have congratulated him with a wolfish grin on his face.
Similar misgivings are allowed at the Prime Minister’s monthly Press Conferences. For many years I have witnessed the manipulation of this conference by Erasmus. The first person to speak after the Prime Minister would have made his Opening Address is Gus Williams. Is he a reporter? Gus Williams is the owner of Radio One 94.1 FM and if one is not reporting on such an important conference one should not be there, moresover to take up the limited time that reporters have to as questions of Dr. Douglas.
Every time I view the conference on TV or listen to it on air, Gus Williams always compliment the Prime Minister on some project or some enormous pill he had given the nation to swallow without water. He would then ask a question with ten parts to the “Ten-Man-in-One’; questions that would have already been answered in his Opening Address. All the while, Erasmus stands on the right of the Prime Minister with that silly smirk on his face while reporters (not those from ZIZ and the Labour Spokesman) patiently wait their turn to get half-truth answers or verbal abuses to their questions.
It is also a normal practice for Erasmus to give Gus Williams the opportunity to ask the last question and often times stifle reporters to rebut the ‘Ten-Man-in-One’ on answers given to their questions. I would therefore like to suggest that those independent media houses in the Federation should boycott the Prime Minister’s monthly Press Conference and do not publish any article written by Erasmus Williams that emanates from it.
Last, but not least, is the doctoring of tapes or recordings. I have always had the belief that Erasmus distorts information disseminated through CUOPM, but I never could have found evidence until last Tuesday. This information that I am about to disclose has caused me to doubt the authenticity of the tape released on Lindsay Grant concerning the Marriott Scandal.
Last week Tuesday, while listening to the Ask the PM programme, I definitely heard the ‘Ten-Man-in-One’, in response to a male caller’s question on the result of the Nevis Election Petition, said. “The judge is not God…” This part of his response was omitted in the recording posted on CUOPM. The question is, “Since that was done to the Tuesday, March 24, 2012 recording, what else has been done to similar or other recordings in the past?
I am subject to correction, but I understand that a press secretary, especially in Erasmus Williams’s case, is considered the liaison officer between the government, the public and the media. He or she is tasked with handling requests from media practitioners, the drafting of press releases, the writing of speeches and to organise press conferences.
According PRCrossing, “A good press secretary will have the capabilities and the training to write press releases and to otherwise communicate through their writing or through press briefings. An excellent command of languages is a huge plus if dealing with issues on an international level. Press secretaries should be able to absorb details quickly, process information rapidly, and be able to produce text or a verbal response swiftly and accurately. A Press Secretary is often the point person for making sure that a message gets out to the public, that the message is clear and concise, and that any questions asked are answered on message.”
Can we trust Erasmus to do this? He is being paid with taxpayers dollars to perform those functions, but yet we can see him sending out press releases on party politics, especially during election mode. As far as I am concerned, his duty entails what the government has done, what it is doing and what it intends to do in the interest of the people.
From all his misgivings and the confluence of irregularities and biases perpetrated against Erasmus Williams, I must conclude that he seems to be the ‘Ten-Man-in-One’ Spin Doctor.
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