Four and a half years after an agreement was signed for the people of Linden to have their own television station – part of the pact with the then PPP/C government following bitter protests and the deaths of three men in 2012 – the residents of the mining community are still waiting for it to become operational.
Two governments and two boards of the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) have been in place but yet the licence has not been issued and while some blame the current administration, others are blaming the people of Linden who are apparently continuing to squabble over the composition of the Board of Trustees of the Region 10 Broadcasting Inc (RBI).
At the centre of the board of trustees issue is former Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon – who was part of the team that inked the August 2012 agreement and who was one of the four original members of the Board of Trustees – and from all indications he is not speaking.
Several attempts by this newspaper to speak with Solomon, who was the Regional Chairman when the people of Linden stood up to the then administration in protest proved futile. On more than one occasion when asked for information by this newspaper, he requested to be called later, but did not answer his phone when this was done, nor did he return the calls.
In letters to the press, trade unionist Lincoln Lewis had criticised Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, under whose authority the GNBA falls, on the Linden broadcast licence issue. The PM responded. Lewis then posed several other questions in another letter which remain unanswered.
Stabroek News reached out to the PM through his Director of Public Information (DPI) with an emailed list of questions, including some which were raised by Lewis, but while the newspaper was told that they were being looked at and would be addressed, almost two weeks later there has been no response, and follow-up enquiries were also not acknowledged.
So important was the granting of the licence to the Linden people that the coalition government named it as one of its goals to be achieved during its first 100 days in office.
Almost two years later this still has not been done by the administration, even though on June 25th 2015, Prime Minister Nagamootoo told the National Assembly that the situation in Linden would be corrected expeditiously after the Broadcasting Authority was restructured – it was then headed by PPP/C member and former minister Bibi Shadick – and reviews of the application for a television licence by the people of Linden. He told the National Assembly that television for the people of Linden was “guaranteed” and that technical arrangements were being finalized to have the people of the mining town operate their own television station.
In a recent Facebook exchange with Lewis, the former Chairman of the GNBA Leonard Craig stated that it was wrong to blame the Prime Minister for denying the people of Linden the licence.
Mutual consent
“As immediate past Chairman of GNBA I can say that a licence was approved for Linden since November 2015. With mutual consent of NCN and NFMU (National Frequency Management Unit) the frequency CH13 was (taken) from NCN and allocated to be used by the people of Linden,” Craig said in a comment, in response to a post made by Lewis on the social network.
He further revealed that the piece of land with a dish and other broadcasting infrastructure located on Blueberry Hill, which was under the management of NCN, had been handed over.
“Linden then developed factions and both factions agreed to place the issuance on hold until they solved the issues regarding trusteeship and management (both of which GNBA must verify and document by law),” he further stated.
The former chairman said that those involved are yet to resolve “their internal infighting” and as such, to “lay this blame at the feet of the PM is a little less than honest.”
He also said that he was in possession of a cabinet paper moved by the Prime Minister to make it an official policy and commitment of the APNU+AFC government to return TV to Linden.
“I personally worked tirelessly to make this a reality but the parties just won’t budge,” he ended.
The fact that there are factions in Linden is no secret and from all indications it appears that the current regional body has issues with Solomon being the head of the RBI, and it is not clear when this issue would be ironed out, as both sides have remained silent and the APNU+ AFC government has not made known any moves to ensure that this 100-day promise will be fulfilled.
Last June the addition of some persons to the board generated controversy with RDC councillor Gordon Callender and Linden Town Council councillor Lennox Gasper.
The appointment of pardoned treason accused Phillip Bynoe, as well as the unilateral selection of Linden Mayor Carwyn Holland and his deputy drew the fury of the two councillors, who at the time had said that those appointments had been made without consultation.
Holland had announced that he had been invited to a meeting in Georgetown with Prime Minister Nagamootoo and a decision had been taken to expand the RBI Board of Trustees, increasing the number of directors from four to 15.
“The consensus arrived at by the PM was to reshape the Trust in terms of numbers, and instead of an individual being on the Trust, you have entities represented by individuals on the Board of Trustees. The Trust which originally was made up of four persons, is now extended to 15 persons which include two Members of Parliament based in Linden, two members from the Mayor and Town Council (M&TC), three members from the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), and one representative each from the Neighbourhood Democratic Council, the union and the religious body,” the mayor had said at the time.
It was also agreed that the region would apply for a broadcasting licence and the government would facilitate the granting of that licence.
It was Solomon who had created the entity to meet the licence eligibility requirements and it initially comprised Directors who were taken from a cross-section of the Region 10 community. They were Solomon, Sandra Vantull, Pastor Morris McKinnon and the now deceased Haslyn Parris. Following his death, Parris was replaced on the board by Gloria Britton.
‘Regrettably’
In his response to Lewis, Prime Minister Nagamootoo had labelled his opinions “regrettable and not based on facts.” He said that Solomon had undertaken to carry out the decision of the consultative meeting, which was that the board of trustees would include several other representatives of the people of Region 10.
“These consultative meetings became necessary after the stakeholders in Region 10 formally wrote to the Prime Minister expressing concern about the lack of wide representation on the Board of the then Region 10 Broadcasting Inc,” the PM said in his statement.
He pointed out that at the time RBI was registered, Solomon was the elected Regional Chairman and it was in that capacity that he headed the entity. “Since then, Region 10 has elected a new Chairman and councillors. Accordingly, after consultations, it was decided that the Board of the Trust should include new directors. Mr. Solomon fully agreed to this and committed to taking the agreed actions to increase the representation of stakeholders,” he said.
Denying that there has been “manoeuvres of machinations” by him, as claimed by Lewis, the Prime Minister said that the Channel 13 Linden frequency has long been identified for transfer to the Region 10 Trust. He said that the licence for the frequency has to be assigned by the GNBA which has been awaiting the changes to the Board of Trustees before taking action.
“For several months, no movement was made on the changes to the Trust, in spite of reminders to Mr. Sharma. An approach was made to the Trust’s attorney who has assured that the changes would be made and registered,” the Prime Minister said.
However, in response to the Prime Minister, Lewis accused him of “being economical with the truth in claiming that the Linden television licence awaits Sharma Solomon’s action, and based on representations made to him from people in the community he has advised that the Board be expanded.”
“Let me from the outset say, the composition of the Board is not within the Prime Minister’s scope of legal responsibility or authority,” Lewis stated.
He further pointed out that the trust, which is a legally constituted body, (established in 2013), and the composition of its board, met the requirements of the Law.
“If it had not, it could not have been established. The PPP/C government’s refusal to grant the licence had nothing to do with the Board’s composition which the Prime Minister is pre-occupied with, and he is misleading the society into thinking the problem exists here. The problem is him,” Lewis continued.
He accused the Prime Minister of interfering in the work of the GNBA, which is responsible for granting the licence, by creating roadblocks for it not to be conferred.
“The PPP/C did exactly the same thing. When that government could not fault the people on the laws and their fundamental right, it created all sorts of excuses and roadblocks. The Prime Minister is using the same playbook,” Lewis said.
He believes that had the Prime Minister stuck to his constitutional role, the licence could have been issued.
“Blaming Solomon for not expanding the board, and making false argument that the Board was constituted to have the Regional Chairman’s presence, as pretexts for refusing to grant the licence is playing deceptive politics,” he stated.
