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Comment…The hijacking of radio and cable in Guyana

Apr 14, 2013 News

 

A country’s airwave is a national resource, and in today’s world one of its most valuable resources.
Given its value, it should be distributed in a way that maximizes the benefits to the country and its people. These benefits include a competitive broadcasting environment, diversity in broadcast ownership and content, and a fair return for the rights to use this resource.  These rights should reflect their value either in monetary terms or their social value because the spectrum is part of the patrimony of the people who should be entitled to significant returns.
The broadcast spectrum in Guyana belongs to the people of this country. It does not belong to the government nor does it belong to Bharrat Jagdeo to distribute arbitrarily and at his whim and fancy.  Yet, one of our most valuable resources has, in the most shameless manner, been hijacked by Bharrat Jagdeo and distributed to his friends and cronies.
The broadcast spectrum is now dominated by the personal friends and associates of Jagdeo. Five frequencies have been assigned to the Guyana Times which is owned by Jagdeo and his personal friend, Dr. Ranjisinghi Bobby Ramroop. Another five frequencies have been assigned to the Mirror newspaper which is owned by Jagdeo’s party and another five frequencies have been assigned to a company owned by an overseas resident Guyanese who just happens to be the sister of Robert Persaud. Persaud is married to the niece of Bharrat Jagdeo.
In addition, cable licences have been granted to Vikash Persaud, the son of the late Reepu Daman Persaud who advocated a third term for Jagdeo’s presidency.  Another cable licence has been granted to Brian Yong, another personal associate of Jagdeo.
With a cable licence one can provide many radio and television channels, and also provide wireless internet and telephone services throughout the length and breadth of Guyana.
Such a valuable asset that belongs to the Guyanese people has thus been put in the lap of a few individuals who are acolytes of Jagdeo. At the same time the applications of independent entities such as the Stabroek News and Kaieteur News among others have been overlooked.
The implications for the Guyanese people are dangerous and grave. They do not bode well for the future of this nation. For a small number of companies through the assignment of multiple frequencies to have such a stranglehold on the broadcast spectrum in a small country is extremely dangerous. WE are heading for George Orwell’s 1984 where Big Brother controls everything.
We can eventually have a situation whereby certain independent television stations will have to close because of the competition from cable. The imbalance in media ownership can signal the shutting out of independent voices and viewpoints and lead to a situation whereby a few individuals and companies will determine what the Guyana people see, hear and read.
Instead of this imbalance in the broadcast spectrum, what Guyana needs is a level playing field in which there is fair competition and diversity in the broadcast medium. But this goal is now in danger because of the licences granted in 2011 by Jagdeo.
The obnoxious broadcast licences granted in 2011 and the number of frequencies assigned to the licencees should be immediately recalled in the national interest.
The foreign countries with an interest in Guyana’s future should support our demand that they be recalled. The way these licences were distributed was illegal, unconstitutional and immoral.  If left unresolved, then it means that the government can give away the whole of Guyana and there would be nothing the people of Guyana can do about it. We do not believe that the courts or our legislature would ever allow such an immorality and illegality in this country.
The government must act now, and the people must force them to act by supporting our call for a total recall of the 2011 licences. They must demand the instituting of a fair and unbiased system for the issuance of broadcast licences, free from nepotism and cronyism.

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