Acting CEO of the state-owned National Communica-tion Network (NCN) Michael Gordon has said that the corruption debates produced and aired on the network will continue in the current format despite the boycott by main opposition APNU.
APNU on Monday said that the format of the debate was flawed and the exercise was one-sided and formatted to ambush the opposition and that as a result a decision was made at the level of its leadership council to cease participation.
Gordon had been asked whether the NCN would see the wisdom of tweaking the format of the debate by adding another person or entity on the programme to maintain the semblance of balance and objectivity.
But in response, Gordon said that it is not necessary to change anything since the opposition is still represented on the panel.
“By virtue of the fact that the AFC agreed to participate means that there was balance,” he said.
So far, three out of the proposed seven debates have been completed.
The first debate, held two Sundays ago, dealt with the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project; the second, held last Wednesday, dealt with the proposed Marriott Hotel; and the third, on the expansion of the Cheddi Jagan Inter-national Airport runway, was held on Sunday evening. The next debate will air tonight on NCN Channel 11.
“After the first [debate] in which Carl Greenidge, MP, represented APNU it became clear to us that the entire format was flawed.
This in addition to other issues which we subsequently raised with NCN informed a decision by the Leadership Council of APNU not to participate in these debates,” APNU said in the statement on Monday.
“We wish to make it absolutely clear that we are prepared to debate the Government on any issue as it relates to national development as you have seen us do in the National Assembly however we will not be caught in an ambush set by the PPPC Government executed by NCN Channel 11,” the statement said.
On July 26, 2012 David Granger Leader of the Opposition responded to an invitation from Gordon to participate in “a face to face discussion programme on issues relating to certain sectors in society” by proposing a number of topics for discussion.
These were: the University of Guyana crisis, the Linden security crisis, the Local Government and Municipal crisis, the Georgetown Nursing School crisis, the appointment of diplomats in Guyana’s Foreign Service, the Guyana Police Force reform, the establishment of a tripartite budget committee, the appointment of judges in the judiciary, social protection for vulnerable citizens and collective bargaining in the public sector.
Gordon said that the topics for discussion as submitted by the Leader of the Opposition in a letter while not included in the programmes were not cast aside and will be considered for future programmes.
