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Basic Needs’ discriminatory ads placement raised with CDB

May 30, 2014 News

Questions over transparency and value for taxpayers’ money were raised yesterday before the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) as its 44th Annual General Meeting (AGM) ended.
During a closing press conference yesterday, questions were posed to Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, and CDB’s President, Dr. William Warren Smith, over policies by the bank on advertising its funded projects and whether taxpayers really had a fair opportunity to peruse them.
Dr. Singh has since promised to work along with media houses over issues with information and ads placement.
Stabroek News, one of the two independent dailies in Guyana, in a statement published yesterday, complained that the Government had over the past seven years discriminated against sections of the private media by withholding taxpayer-funded state advertising from them.
“This behaviour is discriminatory, constitutes an attack on press freedom and violates the Declaration of Chapultepec on press freedom to which Guyana is a signatory.”
Discrimination in the placement of advertisements has also extended to projects in Guyana funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), particularly those that come under the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF), the statement said. The local office has not responded to queries on the issue.
“Advertisements for the Sixth Cycle of the BNTF are only placed in two newspapers: the state-owned newspaper (Guyana Chronicle) and a government-friendly newspaper.”
The government-friendly newspaper referred to is none other than Guyana Times, a newspaper that has limited circulation and is owned by Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop, a close friend of the Government and former President Bharrat Jagdeo.
Yesterday, the CDB official said he was not aware of the issue and could not comment.
CDB is a major multilateral funding agency for Guyana, involved in road and school building projects.
With Kaieteur News by far the largest read, both in circulated and online readership, followed by Stabroek News, there have been questions. What is even more disturbing is the fact that both newspapers were sidelined, in place of the poorly circulated Guyana Times.
Smith said that CDB makes available the project description on its website, with best practices followed. However, the institution would likely not be willing to release contracts or bills or quantities.
According to the Finance Minister, through the National Assembly, Government has been releasing contract documents often.  He made it clear that he is not involved in placing ads, but would be willing to refer the matter to the relevant department if a particular complaint was made.
Yesterday, Kaieteur News’ Publisher, Glenn Lall, said that the issue is disturbing.
“The issue is not about us getting ads. As a matter of fact, we have offered in the past to carry state ads for free, if it means that our taxpayers will have an opportunity to know how their monies are being spent. But you cannot hide it away where nobody can see. This cannot be value for money.”
The issue is not new, as the Jagdeo administration had removed state ads from both Kaieteur News and Stabroek News before restoring in time for the launch of Guyana Times, a few years ago.
According to Stabroek News yesterday, “Advertisements should be placed in a manner that allow them to be read by all sectors of society while at the same time providing value for money.
When the Seventh Cycle of the BNTF was launched in Georgetown on June 27, 2013, it was stated that these projects would be community-informed and proposals would be accepted from citizens in the areas where the projects are to be carried out.”
This cannot be successfully done if the Government of Guyana continues to discriminate in its placement of advertising, the newspaper said.

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