Prime Minister takes ‘responsibility’ for state of GNBA

Nov 19, 2016 News

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Despite the fact that he allowed the situation to fester for months before intervening, Prime Minister

Moses Nagamootoo is claiming that he did all he could to deal with the discord that plagued the Board of the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA).
Nevertheless, he said that he is willing to take “political responsibility” for the “issues” facing the Board. Nagamootoo was at Alliance For Change (AFC) press conference yesterday.
At that forum, the Prime Minister was asked if he was willing to share responsibility for the unproductivity of the GNBA as well as the discord that he allowed to fester. He said that it was a difficult question to answer, yet he attempted to do so. The Prime Minister said that he had summoned the Board to a meeting where he was made aware “of the nature of the disputation.”
Nagamootoo said that he tried to address the situation and “at the end of the meeting the two disputants shook hands and pledged to work for the good of the authority and the country.” He continued, “So it cannot be said that I did not make an intervention to see that relationships are smoothed over.”
However, Nagamootoo said that the problems at GNBA were more than the interpersonal wrangling. He said that the outstanding issues that GNBA is faced with correcting are “perhaps” what is causing the problems.
“It is not so much the personality. The issue is whether you should have everyone’s license rescinded and everyone should reapply all over again and applications reassessed in terms of the standards prescribed by regulations. That is the problem.”
Nagamootoo, addressing questions by Directors of GNBA as to his Authority, said, “I have seen in sections of the report, some elements on the Board saying that the Minister has no right to recommend regulations.”
He said, however, that the law states that it is the responsible Minister that has the power to pioneer any proposed amendment to the law or the implementation of new regulations.
He admitted though, that “in this instance, I had not initiated the process of regulations.” He said that he was the one who told the Board that the best way to address the radio stations that are operating on licences granted under questionable circumstances was to formulate new regulations.
“The way to go is to allow everyone to apply in accordance with the new standards…I told them to draft the regulations, send them to me and we will talk about it.” He said that he reviewed several drafts of the regulations and was working with the Authority in this regard.
After chronicling the efforts he made, Nagamootoo said, “Do I assume responsibility for anything that went wrong? Yes. As the Minister assigned responsibility I assume political responsibility for what happened. But as to whether I could have done anything otherwise than what I did to bring the parties together and they shook hands etc, I am not aware.”
Nagamootoo said that the law has certain provisions that speak to the life of the Board, “so I couldn’t have taken measures to say I did not like what you did so I am knocking you off. I cannot do that unless (the reason) satisfy the requirement of the law which says there are certain specific things you have to do in order to be discharged from the Board.”
Nagamootoo did not mention the fact that GNBA Director, Anthony Vieira, who was one of the main characters in the feud, had offered his resignation. But this was not accepted.
Nagamootoo told the media that now that the Inquiry has been completed he has the opportunity to look at all the issues affecting the work of the Board and “if we believe the problems encountered by the Board are impeding the functions of the Board then judge me whether or not I will take certain actions.”
Nagamootoo said that he will soon be circulating the report of the Board of Inquiry to GNBA Board Members and the CEO. He said also that he will circulate it to the media.
The Board of Inquiry has recommended the dismissal of GNBA Board Chairman, Leonard Craig. It has been found that Craig impugned the characters of two other Board Members, Anthony Vieira and Vic Insanally. It was also said that Craig stood in the way of the execution of measures to address the illegal radio licences granted by former President Bharrat Jagdeo.
It has been reported that Craig resigned from the Board and went to China to pursue a Doctorate.
However, yesterday Nagamootoo said that he did not receive a resignation from Craig. He said however that he will soon have to meet with the Board of GNBA to discuss the recommendations of the Inquiry and to the filling of the vacancy.
Nagamootoo said that the report has brought out “very significant shortcomings in this important Authority that has critical functions to perform.”

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