Latest update November 25th, 2024 1:00 AM
Latest News
- ExxonMobil commences design for 7th project as Gov’t remains ‘iffy’ over approval
- Gov’t extends deadline for proposals on second phase of Gas-to-Energy project
- Hezbollah rockets land near Tel Aviv after big Israeli strike on Beirut
- 121 drivers nabbed speeding, 248 with unauthorised tinted glass
- Cop stabbed by Venezuelan national
Radio licences protest continues
Protest against former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s granting of radio and cable licences shifted gear yesterday when it moved to the East Coast of Demerara in an attempt to highlight the issue before members of the Diplomatic Community.
The protestors, among whom were Kaieteur News Publisher Glenn Lall, Capitol News’s Enrico Woolford and Channel Nine’s Charles Griffith, moved to the Grand Coastal Hotel where President Donald Ramotar was meeting members of the Diplomatic Community at the Financial Crimes Stakeholder Meeting.
Protestors outside the Grand Coastal Hotel yesterday.
The protest certainly got the attention of those attending the meeting as well as scores of commuters traversing the main East Coast Demerara carriageway.
The issue is likely to be raised at the upcoming forum to commemorate World Press Freedom Day next month.
In an invited comment on the issue during the protest, President Ramotar urged that those protesting should take their grouse to the independent authority on broadcasting that was established to deal with the matter.
However, head of the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority, Bibi Shadick, had stated that the body has no mandate or legal power to revoke broadcast licences, unless the Authority has good reason.
Addressing the National Assembly recently, Shadick said that she would not be bullied by protests calling for the revocation of licences issued by former President Bharrat Jagdeo the very month he left office.
“The Board of the Guyana National Broadcast Authority has never discussed the revocation of any licences and is not authorised to revoke any licence by law, except for cause, and no such cause has been brought to us,” she said.
Leader of the Alliance for Change, Khemraj Ramjattan, had informed that during the recent tripartite budget talks, the joint Parliamentary Opposition sought, as a priority, to address the issues of the unfair distribution of radio licences, but got an unfavourable response from President Donald Ramotar.
According to Ramjattan, even though the radio licence issue was second on a list of 11 demands, the President unequivocally dismissed any possibilities for the distributed licences to be revoked.
He said that the President’s position was backed by his two advisors: Gail Teixeira and “strongman” Dr. Roger Luncheon.
Ramjattan noted that all that was said by the government at the tripartite meeting summed up to a concrete position that “they (the government) are not going to rescind anything.”
The AFC leader opined that Ramotar’s position to leave everything as it is, is simply a perpetuation of the deception that Jagdeo portrayed.
Ramjattan stated that at the meeting, the President said that the licences were granted on meritorious grounds.
He hinted at court action, adding that the opposition plans to address the issue in the National Assembly as well. “We cannot condone this…We are going to constantly harangue them to revoke and redistribute those licences,” Ramjattan stated.
Kaieteur News Publisher Glenn Lall reiterated his position that he will not rest until the matter is resolved amicably.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
The business class also funds undemocratic parties
…Peeping Tom Kaieteur News- There’s a peculiar phenomenon in Guyana, a sort of cyclical ritual, where members of... more
Rising Gun Crimes in the Caribbean: Urgent Action required by all
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – There is an alarming surge in gun-related violence, particularly among younger... more
Weekend Cartoon
