The local media were left fuming today after neither the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister or any other cabinet member addressed the press following the cabinet meeting.
The meeting began at 12:30pm in the Secretariat with the press dutifully waiting outside for the briefing afterwards, as is standard. It ended at around 3pm and, thereafter, the ministers took a break before gathering again at 5pm to review the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was not until after 6pm that the exhausted and frustrated journalists were told that there would be no briefing, rather a press note would be sent by email. They were, however, informed about the Covid review meeting.
Earlier in the day they had been initially told that government spokesperson and cabinet minister James Sangma would brief the media. After kicking their heels waiting for hours, the press were given an update on the Covid-19 situation by Health Minister AL Hek but he did not speak about the decisions taken in cabinet.
The waiting press then went in search of Conrad Sangma, his brother James and Prestone Tynsong but they had either left or declined to speak to the media.
Journalists were left wondering whether the government’s top honchos refused to interact with the fourth pillar in order to avoid being asked difficult questions about the so-called rice scam, which came to light in the last few days.
