| – despite promises from Gov’t in 2012 agreementWith elections approaching, Opposition parties are still unable to access the airwaves in Linden, even though the issuance of TV and radio licences was part of the agreement hammered out between Linden and the government on August 21, 2012.Region Ten Chairman Sharma SolomonThat agreement was reached following a month-long protest in Linden over a proposed electricity hike that eventually led to 27 persons being injured and three shot dead.During the protests, the mining town was effectively shut down, impacting heavily on the normal hinterland activities, including mining and logging.Region Ten Chairman, Sharma Solomon, attacked the current media monopoly by the government, labeling it as a concerted attempt to silence the people of Guyana.In the agreement, the Government agreed to not only hand over a dish and transmitter that once belonged to Channel 13, but also to facilitate the granting of licences to operators in the region. To date, according to Solomon, this has not been done and moreover, reports reaching him indicate that the equipment was sold to a friend of the administration.He stated that the problem goes to the very policies employed by the Guyana National Broadcast Authority (GNBA). He claimed that the GNBA has consistently harassedGovernment has ignored the agreement that formed the truce, Regional Chairman,Authentic NBA T-shirts Canada, Sharma Solomon says.radio operators and pointed to the case of businessman, Haslyn Graham.According to Solomon, he has engaged multiple organizations on the issue, including the Government. However, the general impression is that the Government is not interested in acceding to anything in the agreement.“We’ve outlined our situation in correspondence to the opposition, the international community, embassies, outlining the oppressive state we are in.”Asked about how the Opposition was dealing with not being able to broadcast messages to the people of Linden, Solomon stated that they have had to adjust to suit the scenario.“We have had to improve our ground movements and make our programme more people-oriented. Having the radio licences would have been very helpful, but in improvising we have had to be more face to face in our interactions with (supporters).”Broadcasters have long protested the fees from the GNBA as an attempt to shut out the voices of ordinary citizens and keep the small operators out of business. They have already taken GNBA to court over the fees on a number of occasions.The Board of Directors of GNBA was appointed in 2012. Broadcasters were directed to submit new applications for broadcasting operations to the GNBA.Approved licencees have to pay two fees before they are handed their licences. The license fee was set at a minimum of $2.5 million by Cabinet.The Cabinet reportedly directed that the licence fee be calculated at three percent of gross income for the preceding year, but it should be not less than $2.5 million. So even in a case where three percent of the licencee’s gross income is less, that licencee still has to pay $2.5 million.In late 2011, a total of 11 radio applications were approved for licences by former President Bharrat Jagdeo, days before he left office. This was despite a standing agreement for no new licences until new broadcasting regulations and the GNBA were in place.Jagdeo’s best friend, Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop, received one with multiple frequencies. Also receiving a similar number of frequencies was The Mirror, a newspaper which belongs to the ruling party, and Telcor, a company with close links to serving Natural Resources Minister, Robert Persaud.However, several independent media houses including Kaieteur News, Stabroek News and Capitol News were ignored.The disclosures of the licences, which also included approval for two cable TV operations, sparked court cases and several days of protests, as well as local and international condemnation, and also led to the administration being accused of attempting to take control of the media, due to its actions. |
