Dear Editor,
Around 4th May, 2011 in the run-up to the elections, I did a commentary which was aired on CNS Channel 6 in which I made certain allegations regarding the agenda of Juan Edghill and Bharrat Jagdeo. Mr Edghill did two things as a result of these allegations: 1) He sued Sharma and me for libel; and 2) he demanded that the ACB revoke Mr Sharma’s licence. This forced the then Leader of the Opposition Robert Corbin to approach the High Court and request injunctions against the functioning of both the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB) and the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC).
The court ruled on 2ndJune 2011 that Edghill, Duncan and Willems must stop functioning as ERC commissioners immediately. And later the court also ruled that the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting was prevented from making any recommendations on the Sharma suspension matter and that Evan Persaud, and Norman McLean should make no decision in the matter since the third member Ron Case, the nominee of the opposition, was not present having had his name removed by the opposition some eight years earlier. This fact was totally disregarded by Mr Jagdeo to whom the request, in writing, by the opposition to remove Mr Case as the PNC’s nominee to the ACB, was addressed!
Incidentally, shortly after granting these injunctions the judge, Justice Bovell-Drakes, was un-ceremoniously transferred to the Essequibo jurisdiction. I would like Justice Bovell-Drakes to know that some of us still remember his fearless acts in granting these injunctions.
On 8th June 2011 there was presented to parliament a Freedom of Information Bill, but no Broadcast Bill was yet on the horizon, and no one, including Dr Luncheon, who disclosed that there was in the works a Freedom of Information Bill which would soon be tabled in the National Assembly made any mention of a Broadcast Bill. However, when the courts ruled that the ACB must no longer function, Mr Jagdeo fast-forwarded a Broadcast Bill which was tabled in our National Assembly on 15th July 2011, which would allow him to select six of the seven members of the authority while the opposition would select only one member.
This bill was fast-forwarded into law on 27th September 2011 as Act No 17 of 2011, but even though he signed the act in September 2011 it was not put into effect until Mr Ramotar named the members of the Broadcast Authority on September 5th 2012, a year later after the Linden protests when the opposition were misled by Ms Teixeira and Mr Lumumba that the only way the Lindeners could get a licence to operate their TV station was if they applied to the Broadcast Authority.
I am not going to deal with this ridiculous Broadcast Act which violates so many fundamental rights enshrined in the Guyana Constitution, and which does not state inter alia that it is either impartial or independent, and which is therefore unacceptable in a democracy − that is a separate exercise; but I will deal with the fact that since the members of the Broadcast Authority were only named on 5th September 2012, nearly a full year after Mr Jagdeo signed the bill into law, in the interim period 10 radio licences were granted by him acting alone in violation of his own law.
Editor, I would like to repeat this: as of September 27th 2011 with the signature of Mr Jagdeo himself to the Broadcast Act No 17 of 2011, the laws of this country stated clearly that only the Broadcast Authority can grant a licence to any person after examining their application and their business plan and being granted a frequency by the NFMU. How therefore could Mr Jagdeo award 10 radio licences before demitting office in November 2011 nearly a year before the authority was named in 2012?
These radio licences were therefore improperly awarded and should be immediately withdrawn by the parliament, and the applications by people such as C N Sharma, Hoyte Blackman TV, HBTV 9, RBS 13 TV and of course Enrico Woolford, among others who were pursuing radio licences for decades, must be brought back to the table for consideration.
I have said it before and I am saying it again, the immunities of the president were not put there to allow him to break our laws with impunity; they were placed there to protect him in the event that he accidently violates some law in the execution of his enormous executive powers. No constitution written under the rule of law could possibly visualise that the president could commit any criminal act – murder, for example − with impunity.
The actions of several ministers and heads of entities seem to think that they are protected by the immunities of the president, and they can also violate the law with impunity if ordered by him to do so.
Furthermore I agree with Mr Nascimento completely about putting China Central TV (CCTV) on the air in Guyana is not only completely contrary to international practice it is also a sad commentary on this country’s commitment to democracy, since we will be force-fed a daily dose of propaganda from a country which does not have a democracy, has signed none of the international human rights covenants, including the Covenant of Civil and Political Rights which was introduced since 1976. China also allows no trade unions, no collective bargaining, and no form of dissent. And Enrico is right: no broadcast in this country can originate from an entity which is completely foreign; all broadcasts must, according to Mr Jagdeo’s own Broadcast Act, have 51% of Guyanese shareholders. That their signal will be transmitted from the NCN compound goes to show that this country is headed down the same path as China, and adds insult to injury.
Finally, to my utter astonishment I recently saw a letter from the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting dated 31st January 2013 addressed to several broadcasters sanctioning them on a perceived transgression. The ACB was not only dissolved by our courts in 2011 until it has a member nominated by the PNC, but it has now also been replaced by the Broadcast Authority. Mr Evan Persaud who signed the sanction copied to the stations is apparently completely disconnected from reality, or is it that the PPP is completely disconnected from reality?
Evil triumphs when good men do nothing! When will this eyepass stop? Why must I obey the law when these senior functionaries of our government don’t?
Yours faithfully,
Tony Vieira
