As he underscored the importance of communication mediums and access to information, President David Granger on Saturday said that his government will ensure that every town has its own broadcast network.
“We have launched what is now called the Regional Public Broadcast Service and the intention is that every capital town in Guyana should have its own broadcasting station and broadcasting network so we can communicate, most importantly, with the residents of the region but also with other regions to the wider world,” Granger said at the official commissioning of the Linden Broadcasting Network, Region 10.
“It will help to keep Guyanese in all parts of the country and all parts of the diaspora better informed and truthfully informed of what is taking place in Guyana,” he added.
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) had seen years pass without its establishment.
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 – and 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. After 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 had 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 Moses 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.
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.
After seven years’ wait, the television station licence for the Network was presented in March of this year to the secretary of the Company for the station.
Granger said that Saturday’s occasion was a momentous one for especially the people of the region.
He noted that many non-Guyanese, who most times lack the knowledge of this country’s geographical makeup, would not appreciate the gratification expressed by residents at the acquisition of broadcast services.
“Today fifth October is a great day for Linden. It is a great day for the Upper Demerara, Berbice Region, It is a great day for Guyana. We took a little time getting here but we realize the importance of public communication and this station is an important forward step in improving the level of communication in Guyana. Many non-Guyanese don’t understand the complexities of Guyana…a person that has a population density of only four persons per square kilometer compared with 660 persons in Barbados,” he said.
“The problems of communication are much more intense in Guyana,” he added.
