The much-touted Inter- Religious Television Station (IRTV) is expected to be realised shortly, as organisers finalise and implement the prerequisites.
Bishop Juan Edghill
Guyana Times International understands that the naming of the directors as nominated by the various religious organisations should be completed by the end of May. This will put in motion the months of planning, said Co-chair of the Inter- Religious Organisation (IRO), Bishop Juan Edghill, in an interview with Guyana Times International. According to him, once this process in completed, the president and other members will be appointed and the ‘ball will get rolling.’
Bishop Edghill explained that only the Christian group has to complete its nominations, with the Seventh- day Adventists and the Council of Churches to make the last two due for the list. The Muslims, Hindus and other groups have already nominated their four representatives each. There are to be 16 directors.
“There is a technical team dealing with the specifications; technical aspects of transmission, the site, power capacity, sourcing quotation and models … the work on that is well advanced,” Edghill revealed.
Edghill said, too, that a second team is “negotiating management of the channel sharing of time, rules of operation and formulating all the necessary paper work for the implementation.” According to him, enthusiasm is so high that participating groups wanted the project to be up and ready since last month. This seemingly puts to rest claims by some commentators who Edghill believes are seeking to derail the project. He thinks the ‘naysayers’ may be fearful that with the establishment of an IRTV their income generated from religious organisations could be redirected.
Our control
The start- up funding for the project, which is a first in the Caribbean and possibly in the world, will come from the state as committed by President Bharrat Jagdeo since 2005. But some are fearful that state investment could result in state control.
“This is putting the power in the hands of the religious leaders who are sitting to negotiate time, space, peak time, and quality of programming. All those discussion are taking place among the religious leaders without the interference of politicians, state officials or any other interest,” Edghill defended. “It’s all being done by religious leaders who have to own and operate the station.”
While there could never be a unity of theologies, Edghill, a religious leader himself, said it could present Guyana as a global leader as it relates to religious tolerance and cooperation across religions to the rest of the world. “What we are talking about here is a model that puts Guyana way above others, a willingness of people of diverse theological views and opinions to share one space; a TV channel not only to put their programmes on it, but to own and operate it.”
The religious make-up in Guyana is as follows: Christians – 57 per cent, Hindus 22 per cent, Muslims 9 per cent and other religions account for four per cent.
IRTV structure
Many religious organisations had applied for license to own and operate their own TV station but this is impractical, says Edghill. He believes that the route currently being taken is a better option. “The religious leaders themselves have agreed to have one channel as against everybody having their own channel, which is a significant step for Guyana and puts us ahead of other countries.”
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