MATT president surprised by 3 exec-member resignations

President of the Media Association of TT (MATT) Ira Mathur says the resignation of three journalists from the organisation came as a surprise and was unable to disclose the reason for their leaving the group.

A letter announcing the resignation of Asha Javeed, Laura Dowrich-Phillips and Kalain Hosein as vice president, assistant secretary and treasurer respectively was sent to MATT on Monday afternoon.

In the letter the trio cited the reason for their departure as "divergent views with leadership" that would prevent their vision for MATT from being realised.

Contacted for comment, Mathur said the resignations came hours before MATT was expected to have an executive meeting, but said it would go on as planned with the remaining executive members, noting that the resignations would be discussed.

She said while the resignations were surprising she still held the journalists in high esteem as the association moved to fill the vacancies left.

"What I would like to say is that ultimately, this is not about who said what and who did what and what is behind this, but, for me and the remaining executive, we are very firm on the principles with which we came in this time.

"This is about the organisation that MATT has bloomed into.

"We're all about transparency, democracy and good governance and all of this will be apparent at the next general meeting, which we're constitutionally required to have before January, and the posts will be filled at that general meeting.

"Ultimately, no matter what our differences are, we remain a community dedicated to the institution of the fourth estate and I would personally like to thank all three of the members for their service through MATT and I trust and I know they will remain strong journalists who will continue to support MATT."

Mathur said she did not want to give a reason for the resignations at this time, saying it would be discussed at the next general meeting.

Newsday contacted Javeed, who declined to comment.

Newsday also tried to contact Dowrich-Phillips, but was unsuccessful.