Apology to the President

On page 6 of yesterday's edition, this newspaper published a report about a visit that the President of the Republic, Her Excellency President Paula-Mae Weekes, paid to the Women’s Prison at Golden Grove on Wednesday.

The visit was not publicised in advance and the media were not invited to be present at the prison during the visit, in accordance with the President’s wishes.

Our story was therefore based on information from a well-placed source in the Prison Service. When we published the story we believed it to be an accurate reflection of what took place during Her Excellency’s visit.

However, the President has since issued a media release denying much of the information in the report.

We therefore apologise sincerely and unreservedly to Her Excellency for any and all inaccuracies it contained.

The story was in no way intended to cast aspersions on Her Excellency, nor do we believe it can be interpreted in such a manner. Indeed, Her Excellency does not complain that the story contains any criticism of her conduct or of anything she may have said, but rather that some of the events related in the article did not take place.

President Weekes also referred in a critical tone to previous inaccurate stories by the same reporter, crime editor Nalinee Seelal.

We also wish to apologise for any inaccuracies in reporting on her Excellency’s activities that have been previously published by this newspaper.

It is, however, difficult to be specific in these apologies, as Her Excellency does not identify any of the previous stories or errors contained therein.

Ms Seelal, as her title suggests, is a senior journalist who covers crime and related stories, and has not previously reported on Her Excellency’s activities, as they would not fall under Ms Seelal’s remit.

Once again we wholeheartedly apologise to Her Excellency, for whom and for whose office we have the greatest respect.

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"Apology to the President"

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