Ramotar maintains issuance of radio licences has been a fair and transparent process

TIMES INT'L

President Donald Ramotar brushed off speculation that the issuance of radio licences has been one-sided, as a perusal of the entire list would disprove this assumption, since it includes persons who are unlikely to have any affiliation with the former president or loyalty to the ruling party.
Since the names of radio licencees became known, owner of the Kaieteur News Glenn Lall, has been claiming that the awardees are cronies of former President Bharrat Jagdeo, who sanctioned the licences prior to demitting office.
While being grilled on the issue by sections of the media at a press conference on Friday, President Ramotar called the names of some licencees who have not been mentioned in what he called ‘unbalanced reports’.  Among them are Rudy Grant, Maxwell Thom, Alfro Alphonso and Rockliff Christie.

President Donald Ramotar addressing a press conference at Office of the President
President Donald Ramotar addressing a press conference at Office of the President

On Thursday, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon lashed out at what he called ‘misrepresentations’ in the hostile media on licencing in the broadcast sector.  He reminded that the PPP/C administration, under former President Jagdeo was “committed to, and did end the state radio broadcast monopoly”.
The commitment dates back to the enacted Broadcast Act of 2011 that replaced the Postal and Telegraph Act, arising from the work of the task force established by the former president and former Opposition Leader Robert Corbin.
Dr Luncheon had also reflected the views of Cabinet that inadequate attention was purposefully paid to the distinction between spectrum frequency allocation and broadcast licencing. As of December 31, 2012, 21 persons/entities were granted licences to broadcast via television stations, six to broadcast television signals by cable and 11 to transmit sound signals.
RGI 89.5 FM, Hits and Jams 94.1 FM and NTN’s 89.1 have already hit the airwaves. On Friday, the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) completed the processing of more applications for radio licences, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.

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