Georgetown, GINA, January 30, 2004

Mission Director, United Stated Agency for International Development (USAID), Mike Sarhan has registered his displeasure at an Editorial which appeared in a daily yesterday, which quoted figures from a draft report published by USAID. He noted that the article shows a great level of irresponsible journalism.
He said this today at the USAID’s presentation of ‘Linking Back to Communities of Origin: Contributions of the Guyanese Diaspora’, at the Le Meridien Pegasus.
The editorial had quoted a section of a previous report on Guyana that ‘fifty thousand Guyanese emigrated in 2002 and it is estimated that annually, 20,000 to 30,000 persons are leaving these shores.’
In a press release dated November 3,2003 issued by the USAID Mission Director in Guyana, Dr. Mike Sarhan, it was pointed out that such a figure is clearly wrong as it would mean that there would be no one left after 10 years. USAID later retracted the figures as a typographical error.
Dr. Sarhan said that since people depended upon and are influenced by what is in the media, journalists need to be responsible.
He encouraged the media to ensure that facts, figures and information on topics are carefully researched in order to maintain a high level of professionalism.