Govt dubs opposition plans to cut NCN allocation a “direct assault on media”

Apr 09, 2013 News

– insists Skeldon and GPL subventions are necessary

Despite disclosures by the National Communications Network of a $500 million profit last year, vehement attempts were yesterday made by Government to defend plugging some $81 million of taxpayers’ money into the entity this year via the National Budget.
At a press conference at the People’s Progressive Party, Robb Street, Georgetown, headquarters yesterday, Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali, not only condemned proposals by the parliamentary opposition to cut the allocation but dubbed it “a direct assault on the media.”

Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali

Ali, who also holds the portfolio of Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, insisted yesterday, too, that the allocation to the state medium would in no way create a disadvantageous situation to the country’s other media entities.
“We see this as a critical investment that is required for the national good.”
NCN, the Minister said, is known to undertake a number of programmes that are of national interest such as cricket and many other public cultural events, which according to him, are important “for the fabric of our society, so we have to balance it.”
Last Friday, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Executive Member, Joseph Harmon, during the ongoing budget debates, insisted that the party would not support the allocation to NCN.
This move, he said, was premised on the fact that President Donald Ramotar who also fills the capacity of Minister of Communication is yet to release the report of the investigation into wrongdoings at the state medium.
Harmon said that this state of affairs had seen the Office of the Leader of the Opposition inking a letter to the President’s office on two occasions with the only response being that “we are considering the report.” But according to Harmon, “we need the report; the public needs it.”
According to Ali, yesterday, based on his knowledge all allegations relating to misconduct at NCN have been dealt with and the necessary administrative mechanisms have been put in place.
He viewed the assertion of a budget cut of the allocation to NCN as a deliberate move “…to starve a legitimate media entity of resources that are necessary to ensure that there is freedom of speech to ensure that the democratic views of people are carried in a fair and open manner.”
Alluding to earlier concerns voiced by Opposition Leader, David Granger, about the debate coverage of both the Government and Opposition sides by the Government supported entities, Ali said that “it is amazing that the Opposition Leader would ask for NCN to carry more of what they are doing and at the same time issue a threat to cut the budget of the entity.”
According to Ali, Government has the right to an entity through which it can disseminate information adding that the Government Information Agency (GINA) has been doing a good job in this regard even as he commended the work of NCN for its “journalism”.
He noted that “we see any cut in any of these organisations as an assault on free speech and democracy.”
Skeldon and GPL too serious to cut
Turning his attention to sizeable financial injections to the Skeldon Sugar Factor and the Guyana Power and Light Company, Ali noted that “you cannot afford to cut…these are two interventions that are too serious to cut.”
APNU officials have since warned that both the Skeldon Sugar Factory and GPL require restructuring before additional monies are plugged into their operation.
But according to Minister Ali yesterday the $11.2 billion proposed investment in GPL will in fact serve to negate an almost 28 per cent increase in tariff on a national scale.
“You cannot afford to cut this; it has tremendous other economic factors that you have to take into consideration. You have to take the inflationary factor into consideration and you have to take the pass-on effect and the pass-on effect if you cut it most definitely; it would affect the poor working class.”
According to him, too, the government has no apology in saying that the Skeldon Factory must perform thus the Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh, has awarded $1 billion towards the operation of the Guyana Sugar Corporation.
Minister Ali noted that “they have to understand that they have to take up the responsibility to step up their performance…This would call for positive action from management and workers,” he added pointing out that “…in the same vein we have no apologies in saying that sugar and the sugar sector is too important to fail and too important to be eliminated from the economic structure of our country.”