GHRA says ‘shockingly partisan’ radio licensing blow to free speech

The government has sought to hand control over the country’s communications industry to “family, friends and associates” of the ruling PPP, according to the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), which has dubbed the developments blows to free speech.

“The formidable control of what the nation will see, hear and communicate in future years is being amassed in the hands of an elite group whose common denominator appears to be their closeness to the former Head of State, President [Bharrat] Jagdeo,” the human rights group said yesterday in a statement issued after a quarterly meeting of its Executive Committee, held last Saturday, and at which resolutions approved at the Members Meeting were considered for appropriate action.

The GHRA said it had only two months ago addressed the issue of freedom of expression and