Bill tabled to slash Ministerial powers

over Broadcast Authority

Amendments to reduce the overarching influence of the Minister responsible for broadcast in the appointment of the Guyana National Broadcast Authority, as well as to give effect to the report of the 2001 Hoyte/Jagdeo Committee on Broadcast and State Media- the recommendations of which were ignored in the Act- have reached the House.

Deputy Speaker, Basil Williams, officiates his first session since his being elected to the post.

The amendments were tabled in the National Assembly on Thursday last by A Partnership for national Unity’s (APNU) Joseph Harmon, and immediately attracted the furor of the Government which signaled its intention to object to the removal of the powers of the Executive.
Harmon in tabling the Bill, told Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Basil Williams, who officiated the proceedings for the first time on Thursday since his election, that the proposed amendments are informed by the provisions of the Constitution which guarantees freedom of expression and freedom to receive and disseminate information.
Harmon, in presenting the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill to the House for its first reading, reminded that in 2001 the Joint Committee was established to investigate, report and make recommendations on radio monopoly, non partisan boards and broadcast legislation.
This Committee was co- chaired by Government’s Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira and then Peoples National Congress (PNC), Central Executive Member, Deryck Bernard.
According to Harmon, that Committee held a number of consultations with a number of persons and entities such as Valmiki Singh, the head of the National Frequency Management Unit, Hugh Cholmondeley, Kit Nascimento and a host of television station owners among others.
Those consultations, he said, led to a number of recommendations being made which informed the current broadcasting laws.
Harmon charged however, that a number of key recommendations made by the Joint Committee, following the consultations were ignored and never made its way into law and as such, he was looking to rectify this dilemma.
Key among the changes APNU is looking to effect is to seek to reduce the powers of the Minister over the Broadcast Authority and to transfer those powers -such as the appointment of its members- to the National Assembly.
The Broadcast Authority, according to Harmon, must be independent and answerable only to the House.
Harmon argues too that the mode of the appointment of members of the Board must initiate from the National Assembly, as was recommended by the Committee but this was thrown out when the law was put in place.

Govt. Chief Whip,
Gail Teixeira

Teixeira however immediately rose and sought to castigate the move by Harmon.
She told the House that while Harmon makes reference to the 2001 Joint Committee and its consultations and subsequent recommendations, another round of consultations was made subsequently.
“There were follow up meetings to go through the draft Bill,” according to Teixeira.
Teixeira, in lambasting APNU’s move to amend the Principal Act, told the House that the Bill now being presented to the House would remove some of the very recommendations that were included in the law.
“Some of the most powerful things that were included are being knocked out, the sections to do with the behaviour of the media and to have transparency in all media,” Teixeira lamented.
The Government Chief Whip, said that the Bill contains amendments that she cannot comprehend and added that Government will have tremendous problems supporting the removal of the role of the Executive and replacing it with Parliament.
She argued that Government is made up of three branches, and what APNU is preparing to do is remove powers from the Executive to place in the hands of the Legislature.
Teixeira reasoned that the Broadcast Authority is not a constitutional body, but rather, a statutory one which receives its funding from Government through the budgetary process.
She said when the role of the Executive is removed there will be no one to appear before the Public Accounts Committee should there be queries on expenditure.
The Chief Whip offered Harmon to sit with him and go through the amendments where she would point out the several clauses that Government would be opposed to and can possibly be reworked.
Harmon accepted the proposal .
He called it “unusual graciousness” and said that he would meet with the Government’s Chief Whip to go over the amendments.
Nonetheless the Bill as presented by Harmon was presented to the House as is, and was read for a first time.

APNU’s Joseph Harmon

Parliament is scheduled to meet again on March, 24, where there can be a possible debate and vote on the matter.
The Guyana National Broadcast Authority is currently chaired by a Peoples Progressive Party Civic, Member of Parliament, Bibi Shadick.
That body is currently embroiled in litigation brought against it by several media proprietors over recent actions, including the arbitrary increase of the licence fees to ‘exorbitant’ levels.