Minister of State Joseph Harmon announced on Friday that Linden is on the cusp of receiving a long-awaited television licence.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of the Presidency yesterday, Harmon said the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) Chairman Leslie Sobers has indicated that the licence would be made available after the establishment of a management committee, which would be responsible for administration. Harmon told those gathered at a flag raising ceremony at the Linden Bus Park that this establishment “will be addressed next week.”
“This is historical for you Linden. Things are happening here in Linden and once we have worked out those issues, you can be assured that you will receive the licence within one week,” he was quoted as saying.
The agreement for the people of Linden to have their own television station was part of a pact with the then PPP/C government following bitter protests in the aftermath of the deaths of three men in 2012. However continuing squabbles over the composition of the Board of Trustees of the Region 10 Broadcasting Inc (RBI) has seen six years pass without the establishment of the station.
This newspaper had previously reported that at the centre of the board of trustees issue appeared to be former Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon – who was part of the team that inked the August 2012 agreement – who was one of the four original members of the Board of Trustees.
It was Solomon who had created the entity to meet the licence eligibility requirements and it initially comprised him, Sandra Vantull, Pastor Morris McKinnon and the now deceased Haslyn Parris. Following his death, Parris was replaced on the board by Gloria Britton.
Following the 2015 elections, it appeared that the regional body had issues with Solomon being the head of the RBI, and it is not clear if these issues were ever ironed out.
A meeting in April of 2017 to establish a new board was aborted and there has been no update on the state of the RBI since.
So important was the granting of the licence to the Linden people that the APNU+AFC coalition government named it as one of its goals to be achieved during its first 100 days in office.
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 a television station for the people of Linden was “guaranteed” and that technical arrangements were being finalised.
In 2017, trade unionist Lincoln Lewis sought to question the coalition government’s apparent failure to fulfil its promise in this regard and was told by former Chairman of the GNBA Leonard Craig 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 Facebook.
He further revealed that the piece of land with a dish and other broadcasting infrastructure, located at 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 had further stated.
