Government will not interfere in the work of the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) board, Minister of State Joseph Harmon has assured.
The minister’s assurance comes amidst continuing concern that television and radio licences were handed out by the former PPP/C administration only to its friends and he said this will not happen under the David Granger administration.
“The administration will not direct the work of the board, neither will it give it any instructions as to whose licence should be taken or who should get a licence. This is the same thing that had happened in the previous administration when the previous administration was able to say give this one, give that one and denied the other one,” Harmon told reporters during his post-cabinet press briefing on Friday.
Harmon made it clear that government has always emphasised the independence of boards.
“The boards will know based on what they have seen before it what they have to do. We will not give any directions to the boards as to what they have to do,” he said in response to a question on the handing out of radio licences during the PPP/C era. He added that now that the board is established, it is up to affected persons to come forward and asked for the licences to be reviewed.
The minister said that government has appointed a board and will rely on the “integrity and the strength of that board to do what is right by the people of this country.”
Earlier this month, government announced that AFC candidate Leonard Craig will be heading the GNBA board.
Under the PPP/C administration, numerous concerns were raised about the way broadcast licences were handed out and to whom by the GNBA. There are still many applications on file including some from well-established media houses.
During the 2015 budget debates, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo had told the House that the illegal granting of television and radio licences will be reversed as government aims to reform the process as part of a wider effort to transform the country’s information sector.
“We will reorganise and we will also rework the spectrum for television and radio licences and we will reexamine and where necessary, reverse the illegal granting of television and radio licences to the relatives, cronies and friends of the one who stood up here and tried to lecture to us,” he said.
