The Stabroek News on January 5, 2010 reported that Prime Minister Samuel Hinds had appeared on a popular talk show and said among other things that his government was currently in the process of reviewing the final draft of the Broadcast Bill. To the inattentive ear this indeed sounds splendid.
But many Guyanese will know that this particular bill and its not too distant relative that deals with the enactment of copyright laws seem to have found themselves on the shelf gathering dust as time passes.
A few days ago the first decade of the millennium ended. It’s almost a decade since work began on creating broadcast legislation for Guyana. Seven years have passed since the first official draft of the Broadcast Bill was made available on July 25, 2003.
An examination of the draft would reveal a logical, carefully constructed piece of legislation that provides a solid foundation from which the guidelines for broadcasting in Guyana can emanate.
This draft received much scrutiny from NGOs, concerned citizens and the opposition parties. Pertinent recommendations have been made and still there seems to be reluctance by the government to have this bill properly amended, tabled, debated and passed in Parliament.
The time that the Prime Minister indicated that was still needed to put things in place smacks of political bureaucratic plodding. There have been a number of bills that have flown through the Guyanese Parliament with dizzying speed, so one wonders why serious legislation like the Broadcast Bill which will ensure ground-breaking deregulation in the commercial radio sector in Guyana and copyright laws which will guarantee our artists and people of talent protection for their work seem to be ignored by the powers that be.
Among the bills which were passed with expedition, who can forget the contentious Gambling Prevention (Amendment) Bill of 2006 which legalized casino gambling in Guyana. It is indeed strange that something as important as the Broadcast Bill is not being attended to with a higher degree of expedition.
Why a decade after the new millennium does Guyana still have one radio station? This is unacceptable in a democracy!
The government has had more than enough time to iron out all the issues concerning broadcast legislation in Guyana. There ought to be no more excuses with regard to the passage of this legislation in Parliament.
Yours faithfully,
Richard Francois
