Latest update September 17th, 2026 10:25 AM
NCN to give political parties more airtime
Opposition political parties contesting this month end’s General and Regional Elections will finally have their request granted for more airtime on the state-owned radio and television stations, National Communications Network (NCN).
This is as a result of a cordial meeting yesterday between senior officials from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and NCN, at which the state-owned broadcasting entity agreed to seek approval for an increase in the amount of airtime allocated to political parties.
There was also an agreement by NCN to give the option to the contenting parties to purchase additional airtime on both radio and television.
The meeting was at the request of opposition parties for GECOM to intervene to stop what they described as the unfair allocation of airtime by NCN.
NCN had previously announced that it was granting five minutes of free airtime per week to parties contesting the elections, a move the opposition described as unfair and unrealistic, since they claimed that all the advantage was given to the incumbent, PPP/C, which has been controlling the operations of the state-owned broadcaster.
The NCN team at yesterday’s meeting was headed by Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Sattaur and included other senior managers, while Chairman Dr. Steve Surujbally headed the GECOM team.
During the meeting, NCN’s management reiterated their efforts to accommodate all political parties and stakeholders, including sizeable reduction in the cost of advertising and programme time, which has already been implemented.
A release from NCN said that the GECOM chairman was also reminded of the offers of free airtime from NCN, which has its genesis in the historic intervention by the then GTV and GBC and which was further enshrined in the 2006, as well as the current, GECOM media code of conduct.
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