August 26 2020
Chairman Leslie Sobers
The Board of the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) was yesterday dissolved with immediate effect as government says it was constituted illegally, but Chairman Leslie Sobers said he should have at least been notified beforehand.
“I don’t know because I was not told anything. I was not contacted as I was in Chambers today and usually the corporate secretary would call me if anything happened,” Sobers first told the Stabroek News last evening when contacted.
“It would seem, to me, that it would be protocol to contact the chairman of the board first. The least you would expect is that the chairman would be informed and I could in turn tell the directors that letters should be expected. I would not expect to hear something like that, by-the-way,” he added.
Sobers would moments later call back to say that he had contacted the agency’s corporate secretary who informed that letters for all the Board members were delivered yesterday . He said that a director of the Board got her letter and informed him that it was notice of dissolution.
“A letter was sent today but I didn’t go into the office, as I explained that today I was in my chambers. One of the other directors got a letter and opened theirs and she believes the content of hers would be similar to mine,” he posited.
“It basically said that the appointment of the Board is not recognised by the government and as consequence they don’t see the Board as valid. They said that a new board will be appointed shortly. That letter was sent to all persons who were appointed including Bibi Shadick; who was appointed as the opposition’s representative on the Board. So I think that effectively brings the GNBA to an end and the government will form another board as it sees fit,” he added, saying that he was “… grateful that I had the opportunity to serve my country and I remain committed to serving my country.”
Sobers said that the Board was appointed by the President and would have expired in another four months. He said he did not have “the time or the energy” to challenge the decision given the short timespan when it would have been dissolved.
“I would not comment on the board that was appointed by the president and comes to an end in January 2021. How things are going nowadays there are persons who believe that they can do things [and] I have no time or energy to challenge that. One way or the other we would have been gone anyway.
But Attorney General Anil Nandlall told this newspaper that the decision was taken because it was an illegal Board and he duly advised government on the issue. He was then empowered to terminate the life of the Board. “The process was not done in accordance with the Broadcasting Act. The Board members were written to and were requested to submit their instruments of appointment for this current tenure. Some of them replied that they did not have instruments of appointment. Some produced a Cabinet Memorandum stating that Cabinet recommended that the Board appointed previously be reappointed for two years and their names were published in the Official Gazette but there is no record that they were appointed by the President in accordance with the Act,” he said.
