Dangerous defence

May 14, 2013 Editorial

The decision to inject a racial motive into the protest against the Jagdeo-issued radio licences represents a return to the age old policy of divide and rule and one of seeking to make people once more take stands on issues in this country along racial lines. It also indicates that the government is desperate to have the criticisms stop. It knows that the people of this country are not comfortable with the race issue.
Shortly before he demitted office, the then President Bharrat Jagdeo made good on a 2006 election campaign promise to liberalise radio. Of course the radio issue haunted the political landscape with the opposition constantly referring to the ruling party’s control of the airwaves. They pointed to the fact that given the ubiquitous nature of radio the denial of access to opposition views was nothing short of an abuse of power.
Indeed, the opposition when it was time for the elections, would be granted limited time but the government had the option of almost all-day use of the radio to counter what the opposition would have said and to propagate its views.
The international community from time to time would call on the government to liberalise radio. At the time, research showed that Guyana was perhaps the only country in the democratic world with one radio station and that radio station being in the hands of the state.
From time to time the government would seek to justify the radio station in Government hands citing the Rwanda experience. But the proponents of radio liberalization pointed to all the other countries that had more than one radio station.
Liberalising radio was seen as a good thing until the nation decided to examine the manner of the liberalization. Three entities, all of them closely related to President Jagdeo were granted five frequencies. The others were granted one frequency each. It was this apparent bias in relation to the allocation that sparked the protest.
There were criticisms from regional bodies, not least one of the most influential newspapers in the region—the Trinidad Express—, from the United States Government and from some of the people who had applied for radio licences about a decade ago but who were not considered.
The government sought to justify the allocation of the radio frequencies by contending that President Jagdeo had executive powers and could therefore make decisions in keeping with those powers. The Cabinet Secretary said that contrary to the arguments, President Jagdeo issues the licences under the controlling Post and Telegraph Act which was in force at the time.
The Broadcast Act which followed would not have allowed the allocation of the frequencies in the manner President Jagdeo did because there were stipulations. But there was still; the issue of a promise to former President Desmond Hoyte and another to Opposition Leader Robert Corbin that no new licence would be issued until there was a Broadcast Act in place.
It would seem that the government has run out of acceptable justifications so the focus has shifted to racial considerations. The Attorney General knows that he cannot defend the release of the radio frequencies. To suggest that it spanned the racial divide and included people across the coast does not hold water.
It is a matter of fact that the people given the bulk of the frequencies are people of Indian ancestry therefore to attack the inequitable distribution of the frequencies cannot be done without a focus on the people who have been granted the frequencies.
Anyone who attacks the government runs the risk of being accused of racism given that the government is Indian-oriented, and given that the leaders are mainly of Indian ancestry. This is not to say that efforts have not been made to use this argument in the face of attacks against the government.
The truth is that the allocation of the frequencies in the manner it was done is indefensible and for the government to use red herrings is merely to detract from the real issue. The sad thing is that this attempt at a defence is dangerous.

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