The addition of some persons to the Board of Trustees of Region 10 Broadcasting Inc (RBI) has generated controversy with at least one regional councillor threatening protests over the appointments and the manner in which they were done.
The appointment of pardoned treason accused Phillip Bynoe as well as the unilateral selection of Linden Mayor Carwyn Holland and his deputy has drawn fury from at least two officials of the Region, who said that these actions were done without consultation.
Holland on Thursday announced that he was invited to a meeting in Georgetown with Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, who has responsibility for the broadcasting sector, and a decision was taken to add persons to the RBI Trust, 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 said.
He related that it is now for the four existing Trustees to call a meeting within seven days of last Wednesday to pass a resolution increasing the Directors on the Trust from four to 15 persons. Following this, after seven days they will all meet with the new Chairman of the Trust, who, according to Holland will be Region 10 Chairman Renis Morian. At that meeting, he said, a decision will be taken on the way forward for the long-awaited television station.
Holland said it was in his capacity of mayor that he was invited to the meeting with Nagamootoo. According to him, he was one of the persons originally selected to be on the Trust.
“If you check the list from the first meeting that was held before I was sworn in with regards to the Trust, Interim Management Committee Chairman (of the Linden Town Council) Orrin Gordon’s name was there, so automatically I’m on the team. I also chose my Deputy Mayor Waneka Arrindell, being my second-in-command, to be on the Trust,” the Mayor said.
Controversy
However, upon learning of this new development, some councillors immediately held press conferences complaining bitterly about those selected to sit on the Trust. They singled out Holland and Bynoe for special mention.
RDC councillor Gordon Callender and M&TC councillor Lennox Gasper, both held press conferences where they voiced their disappointment at the persons selected to sit on the RBI Board of Trustees, and also the manner in which the appointments were done.
According to Callender, persons are having meetings about the way forward for the television station without consulting the people of Region 10.
“There was never any discussion as it regards to the television station at none of the RDC statutory meetings. We never had any discussion. I do believe that what we should have done as a council was to meet and vote on persons that we deemed fit to represent our station but we did not,” Callender asserted.
“There are names that are called of people (who) were not even around when we were struggling for that television station in 2012. And if the relevant authority does not come and resolve these boiling issues that continue to affect residents of Linden, I’m going to mobilise the forces in Region 10, and organise a series of protests because people lost their lives, people even got scars to take to their grave fighting for that television station,” Callender declared.
Meantime, Gasper took Holland to task for what he said was the appointment of the mayor and his deputy to the Board of Trustees without the council’s approval.
“The Mayor has disrespected this council in that he was made aware of this Trust since in the month of April by way of letter. Yet we never had any meetings as it relates to persons being selected to be a part of that Board. I do believe this is a deliberate move to hijack this station … We need to put the people interest forward and I do ask that we follow a democratic approach,” Gasper said.
When contacted, Morian declined to respond to the issues raised while Holland stated that he was chosen by the Prime Minister to sit on the Board. He emphasised that he was within his rights to make a decision without consulting the council.
“Let me just say for the councillor who is asking the mayor, in such a case as was raised at the meeting on Wednesday last, the mayor acts as the council. Then after he has made a decision, then he brings it to the municipality,” Holland declared.
Nagamootoo, in early February, had announced that the television station was expected to be up and running on the National Communications Network’s Channel 13 frequency. However, a dispute erupted over the special purpose company, RBI, set up to operate the station and the RDC’s expectation that it would control the station.
The Prime Minister had visited Linden and held a stakeholder consultation at the Watooka House where he reaffirmed the APNU+AFC coalition’s commitment to ensuring that the region has its own television station in the shortest time possible. He had urged all stakeholders to work towards finding common ground so that the television station can be returned to the community in short order. It was agreed by the stakeholders present that they will meet subsequently to discuss their concerns and chart a mutually agreeable way forward.
On April 8th, a meeting was set up to iron out issues and establish a Board that stakeholders approved. Those members were appointed on Wednesday.
Following protests and the deaths of three Linden men in 2012, an August 21, 2012 pact was signed between the region and the then PPP/C government and it was agreed that the dish and transmitter that were given to Linden, would be given to the RDC. It was also agreed that the dish and transmitter should be transferred to the region within 14 days of the signing of the agreement. However, this did not happen until the change of government last year.
It was also agreed that the region would apply for a broadcasting licence and the government would facilitate the granting of that licence. RBI was created by former Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon to meet the licence eligibility requirements.
The company 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 by Gloria Briton.
