a key pillar perpetuating non-democracy in Guyana . . . the opposition, 'then' and now, inexplicably negligent in defending the people from the PPP here

smh  

Ramroop Group radio on the airwaves

Posted By Stabroek staff On December 8, 2012 @ 5:20 am In Local | No Comments

Maybe even the opposition knows the PPP ain't that bad,  They (opposition) just want power or share power.  Maybe the "bad" PPP is just a figment of people's imagination which they cannot make real.

I don't think the PPP is a party of saints at all. The evidence is on my side. I believe the opposition allowed themselves to be suckered into the trap of protest. The opposition played right into the PPP's bad blackman bogeyman propaganda. With all these ex-PNC bad eggs on the side of the PPP, it is not a stretch of the imagination when people say that the PPP is planting the mischief. Now the AFC has to refocus and when they do protest they have to call targeted and focused picketing exercises. They need to be more clinical in what they cut in Parliament. They need to set the policy agenda in Parliament. 

other than "abe pan tap," i get the impression that you're reaching to make some kind of REAL point . . . what is it?

HEHEHE Yuh is a real Diplomat. Yuh nah want frig up the socalled Prof directly to embarass him. Hopefully, he will start making sense and not jump around like a headless chicken.

Who are the directors and major share holders of this outfit?

How is it that they were able to jump the line?

You can join the line if you feel so strongly.

Remember when we had guyline and them who bully does jump the line and you can't say anything, that could be the case here.   Come on, what happen to business opportunity and investors who wish to invest in their own country? yall want to beat up the man for doing something good?

You just made it.

The newspaper claim that Jagdeo is believed to be a major share holder in Queens Atlantic. And based on this belief they are parading around this supposition as fact. What shoddy journalism. 

There have been investors who had applied decades ago for permision to operate a radio station and are still waiting. Look at what happened to Sharma and the constant interruption and invasion of  the transmission on Chanell 6 at 82.88Mhz.

Sharma Oh the Holy and Caring and Compassionate Sharma.  Now this is a man I will quote as the STANDARD of Morality, Intelligence and Cmpetence.

forgive me for trying to find merit underneath your scales

One goes by what is academically sound to start with; any government that resists transparency in its dealings with national assets is corrupt. The lack of "evidence" is a dubious claim being made by the PPP because they are secretive and the only result of their corrupt practice is the rise of the patrician class from their ranks.

The AFC not only needs to refocus but it needs to diversify its tactics. It is clear that the PPP will not give up power until they are below 33%. One therefore need not worry about consolidating power under party banner but consolidating power through empowerment of the powerless.  Making sure that people understand it is not merely a PPP parasitism that one fight but anykind of parasitism wrought on uncheckable use of power.

There are no Amerindian representatives from the Amerindian communities who directly represent their people. There are hand selected political parasites who are empowered by the parties used by the parties and who mean little to their people. The same goes for Indians and Africans as well. They do not vote for people they like because they know they can be helped by those persons because of personal ties and or  concern for the community. They vote for the wish and the hope of a party and every party in guyana is  party centric before being people centric.

Facilitate or advise leaders in region 8 and 8 and 1, 2 and 3 that they will be given a parliamentary post if they go out and mobilize the required votes on their own behalf.   We have the statistical tools to break down the community according to how votes are converted to seats and can actually target contact every person amenable to change their vote and we have to begin to bring in local people who know their constituents to act on their behalf.

This is the way is the way of the future because after the PPP removed the possibility of the flipside of the PPP being put in place must be alleviated first by demonstrating to the people before hand that cannot and will not happen in the future. The new authority will not be party elites but will be direct representation from local constituency in parliament and anyone  with the basic signatures required to be on the ballot can be on the ballot.

 Your head has to be in your backside if you do not recognize the kind of politics being practiced here. These crooks are acting as if Guyana is their grand fathers property. Bobby the Boob and Jag the fag are rising like a sky scrapers from the carcass of our pillaged national assets.

Ever heard of Donald Trump, Rupert Murdock EH??

 If the Donald has as much graft available to him as the Boob he would we worth a thousand fold than his mere millions!

No one forced members of the opposition to go ferment protest and mayhem causing injury, death and destruction and tensions over a pipe dream of freeness.  What needs to be done is make the proposals to address mainstream issues such as VAT, Duty and general tax reduction on the middle class.  Make proposals on tax and other reforms which broaden the base and improve compliance.  Demonstrate to the people that you can bring about positive change in way "non-PNC'like".  Make positive proposals to reduce corruption in the Civil services, police, etc, not idle and senseless threats and finger pointing.

You opinion that "freeness" is as arrogant as your claim that obama is supported by a "welfare" class. I can also surmise the conclusion gushes forth from the same reeking racist wellspring.

Mainstream issue is accountability, transparency and a constitution that allows a minority government to coopt power and precludes a coalition of the majority for doing the same.

I am quite sissified that non PNC like does not mean PPPlike since they have out murdered, out stolen and out given away to their cronies more of our national assets  many times over in two thirds less time than the PNC.   You have no positive proposals to remove corruption. That would mean you are for changes to the politics of race and the constitution that facilitates race and crony implantation in parliament.

Politics and big business in Guyana

We live in the age of neo-liberalism. The economic mantra of this ideology limits the role of the government in the economy and encourages it to get out of the economic sphere and leave this space for the private sector which, it is said, is more efficient at delivering goods and services.

The only sectors where the government is encouraged to become involved are those areas where it is not profitable for the private sector to do so, such as mass transportation services and infrastructure. The government is therefore asked to assume loss-making economic activities, under the pretext that this involvement facilitates private sector development.

Interestingly, while this neo-liberal ideology seeks to distance the government from the economic sphere, it does not seek to limit business from politics. In fact in many countries, the facade of democratic rule is perpetuated every four or five years. The citizens are made to believe that they are the ones who elect the government when, in fact, it is the big corporations which determine the outcome of every election through their support of political candidates and parties.

Big businesses splurge huge bucks into shaping public opinion. And despite the small man feeling that his small donations make a difference, in reality the more influential financial support comes from big businesses.
When the elections are over, these corporations, through their lobbyists, ensure that their interests are reflected in the make-up of the government and in the policies that are pursued.

This is why following the financial crash of 2006 in the United States, the Obama administration had to bail out many of those institutions which were responsible for the crisis. The pretext for this support was that these corporations were too big to fail. I guess that for the millions on “Main Street” who lost their jobs and whose mortgages were foreclosed, they were much too small to be saved.
It is no different in Guyana, the economic oligarchy is spreading its wings. But this oligarchy now owns the government. What we have is a government that represents the interest of a powerful economic oligarchy whose purpose is to corner the Guyanese market.

The danger, of course, is that this market is too small to be allowed to be cornered, and because it is increasingly coming under the control of a small group of businessmen, then the entire country is at the mercy of this oligarchy, which is also interested in taking over sport.

The oligarchy was never going to allow forces outside of its control to assume the government, and so it ensured that it had political influence within the government.
The PPP has become beholden to this political oligarchy. This oligarchy funds its political campaigns, making the PPP less dependent on other sources of campaign-finance. And the PPP has become almost totally dependent and tied to this oligarchy which also has its acolytes within the government.
The oligarchy pours out generous support to its acolytes, and therefore it can be said that the oligarchy has its lackeys within the government to safeguard its interests.

This is a real challenge that the incumbent President of Guyana faces: How does he recuse his administration from this overweening control by the economic oligarchy. It is not going to be easy to simply let go of those whom he may feel are in bed with the economic oligarchy, because he still faces the dilemma of where the support for his party’s election campaign will come from.

The President is a wily and astute political figure. He is attempting to unshackle his government and his political party from the influence of the oligarchy, and this is why he has kept old party loyalists close to him within the government. He is hoping to wean his administration and the party away from this influence. But do these loyalists have what it takes to undertake the massive task of breaking links with the new oligarchy, and how many of them have not already been compromised?

But the big question remains where will the funds for his party’s re-election come from if there is a confrontation between the government and the economic oligarchy, whose rapaciousness caused the PPP/C to lose ground with its traditional political base in last year’s elections?
Do not expect the masses to fund any election campaign. They cannot. And while overseas-based supporters of the party may flatter themselves that their financial contributions are substantive, they are only fooling themselves. The election campaigns of the political parties have always been funded substantively by the local business class.

And this is where the local business class, which is outside of the economic oligarchy, must appreciate their long-term interests. They may be surviving now, but eventually this oligarchy will steamroll them and put them out of business.  And eventually, as the powerful economic oligarchy spreads its wings, it will stifle existing businesses in Guyana. 

It is therefore necessary for these businesses to appreciate the threat that they face from, and the power and reach of, the oligarchy. They must therefore step in and help the President to wean his administration and party away from the economic oligarchy, that is, if that is what he really wants. Does he?

This is an excellent piece of analysis by one of the Peeping Toms. As I said the Jagdeo oligarchy is responsible for the underdevelopment of the nation. The Peeper identified two ways how this occurs. 

Wrong man, wrong idea, wrong time

The crisis that is simmering in the National Assembly, the Supreme Court and the Cabinet ostensibly seems to surround the fate of Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee. It is difficult to imagine that one man’s employment should affect all three branches of the state – the executive, legislative and judiciary – so seriously and simultaneously.

It is wrong, however, to think that all of this is about Rohee. It is also wrong to think that the country’s security problems and the conduct of the Guyana Police Force have arisen out of the shooting of three Lindeners on 18th July. Everyone knows that public security is in a parlous state. Everyone expects that the executive, having consistently refused to remedy the problem over a period of several years, must be held accountable. The legislative branch, therefore, has been obliged to act to protect citizens from harm and to prevent damage to the state.

The fact is that the last twelve years have witnessed the emergence of an elected ‘oligarchy’ which now controls the state, and this explains Rohee’s role in the order of things. Rohee’s continued tenure of office and the manner in which he performs his duty are precisely what the People’s Progressive Party/Civic administration requires of him. His removal would not be a personal loss or embarrassment, but will cause the PPP/C’s house of cards to come tumbling down. Rohee’s presence and performance, it should be understood, are essential to protecting Guyana’s deformed economy.

The phenomenal rise of the oligarchy has been exhaustively examined and exposed by two economists – Clive Thomas and Tarron Khemraj. Thomas, in a series of articles on the Criminalisation of the State, critically analysed the way in which the state itself was seen as tolerant to transnational crimes and corruption. Tarron Khemraj, more recently, explained the emergence of an oligarchy in a series entitled The Elected Oligarchy and Economic Underdevelopment.” Both series were published during Bharrat Jagdeo’s 12-year presidency.

An oligarchy, simply, refers to the rule of a country by a few persons. The PPP, having been awarded the single largest amount of votes – about 48.6 per cent – in the November 2011 general elections, can claim to have been ‘elected.’  The party, however, does not practice the same internal electoral democracy as the rest of the country does in the general elections. This fault facilitates the rule of ‘the few.’ It selects its presidential candidate through an opaque process and elects its leaders at its triennial congresses by a quaintly anachronistic method devised by the Bolshevik Communist Party of the Soviet Union – CPSU.

Party rulers are not elected ‘directly’ by members but ‘indirectly’ through a series of delegates and committees. This electoral expedient enables those deemed to be ‘dissidents’ to be excluded from office while a few compliant ones can be effortlessly and repeatedly re-elected. Rohee, for example, has been assured of re-election to the Central Committees of the PYO for the past 45 years! He was elected first to the PYO from 1967 and, afterwards, to the PPP, from 1979 and remains there.
The guarantee of a stable membership, so essential to the emergence and evolution of the political element of the ‘elected oligarchy,’ became evident during Bharrat Jagdeo’s 12-year presidency. This period saw the blatant disregard of the National Assembly, where the PPP elected a member of its Central Committee as Speaker and where it enjoyed a majority.

This was followed by the systematic subordination of the Police Force and the Public Service and the sidelining of the Guyana Public Service Union and the Guyana Trades Union Congress. The misuse of the state media for partisan political purposes and the disparagement of non-governmental organisations – such as the Guyana Human Rights Association, the Guyana Bar Association, the Guyana Press Association and the Amerindian People’s Association – were part of the campaign of vilification to discredit and diminish the influence of civil society.

The law-enforcement agencies, public service and criminal justice system having been weakened, could not cope with the eruption of criminal and other underground economic activities during the first decade of this millennium. The results are that assassinations (even of a cabinet minister) are not investigated, much less solved; culprits in executions are hardly ever brought to justice for these crimes; everyday armed robberies continue.

Narco-trafficking and contraband smuggling, most of all, corrupted law-enforcement officers and public officials. These crimes introduced serious gun-running and triggered a seven-year drug war as the death squads and phantom gangs battled for new turf. The prevailing contrived lawlessness led to the assassination of the deputy Head of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit and, most recently, the execution of Ricardo ‘Fatman’ Rodrigues and others.

The Minister of Home Affairs, strangely, in the face of the new waves of crime, failed to implement the essential elements of his own National Drug Strategy Master Plan which might have curbed narco-trafficking. He rejected British assistance in the form of the Security Sector Reform Action Plan, which could have improved the efficiency of the Police Force. He declined to investigate some of the bloodiest massacres – at Lusignan, Bartica and Lindo Creek – in this country’s criminal history!

The oligarchy, on the one hand, made up of a few high-ranking party members and some selected government officials, has been able to use its control over the law-enforcement agencies to consolidate its control of the state and concentrate more power in its hands. It can now direct state contracts into the hands of its cronies who accumulate enormous amount of wealth.

The common people, on the other hand, become poorer every year as can be seen by the growing army of addicts, beggars, destitute and homeless persons, some of them deranged by drug abuse. Guyana has become a country in which the gap between the super-rich and the ultra-poor is widening before our very eyes. It is an increasingly unequal country.

The idea that Clement Rohee can continue to be the man to be in charge of public security is wrong! The notion that this country can continue to be run by an oligarchy is wrong! The thought that at this time, one year after the PPP/C lost its majority in the National Assembly, it can continue to behave as if it were a majority and can halt the march of democracy is wrong!

Radio licences granted days before Jagdeo’s departure…Applicants deem Jagdeo’s action dishonest, partisan

A decision by the then President Bharrat Jagdeo to issue a number of radio licences days before the November 28, 2011 General and Regional Elections has been described as an act that saw the then head of state giving more gifts to his friends and cronies.

The Jagdeo government mysteriously and inexplicably refused to grant licences to many entities that had applied long before all of those now granted. Among those with applications dating back a long time were Kaieteur News and Stabroek News.
In his last days in office, Jagdeo announced that he was going to liberalise radio. The only radio was the state-owned NCN which operates on five frequencies.

Less than a week before he left office, Jagdeo announced 10 new licencees. He was reported as saying that the licences were granted from 55 applications that had been on file. The method of selection was never disclosed and even to date no one knows all of the 10 that was granted.
When questioned just before he left office, Jagdeo said that he was keeping a promise he made. He referred questions about the names of the 10 to Dr. Roger Luncheon.

In turn, Luncheon identified Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop, Jagdeo’s best friend, Maxwell Thom who owned Wireless Connection, Rudy Grant, TelCorp, Alfro Alphonso in Region Two and Rockliffe Christie in New Amsterdam.
He promised to release the other names later. He never did.
Last week Ramroop’s station went on air, the first of the 10 to do so.
The remaining 45 applicants had already been told that their applications were being scrapped and that they should apply all over again with new business plans.
Two of the former applicants say that this is unfair and that they have no intention of applying again. Instead, they want the newly appointed President Donald Ramotar to revisit the issue and to deal fairly with everyone.

Publisher of Kaieteur News, Glenn Lall, said that he was not happy when he was ignored for a radio licence. He said that the only reason Jagdeo could give for bypassing him is because of Kaieteur News’s exposure of the corruption that became rampant during Jagdeo’s tenure.
He said that he will not sit back and accept this situation.
“I will never allow people who had no prior involvement in media or Johnny Come Lately being given radio licences before those who had applications in the system, among them Kaieteur News, years earlier.”

He said that he finds the award of these licences not only unacceptable but also dishonest and disrespectful to those he ignored. “This is more an insult, not only to Kaieteur News, but also to the people of this country. I will not take it lightly. I will not allow this situation to slide. I will fight this issue to the end.
Imagine denying applications to Stabroek News and Kaieteur News but granting licences to Guyana Times and to Wireless Connections.”

Jagdeo had said that one criterion was that the licencees should not be in debt and should be of good standing in the society. Wireless Connections is up to its neck in debt and Guyana Times is in no better position, operating at a daily loss.
Cathy Hughes and Enrico Woolford, two who had also applied for radio licences and veterans in the broadcast industry here, were also denied. They said the government has to come clean on how those licences were issued.

While it is the NFMU that determines the frequency under which the stations will broadcast, the Minister of Information – a portfolio assigned to the President – has the prerogative to grant licences.

But he must do so in a fair, transparent and impartial manner.
Woolford has repeated his call for the NFMU to publish who is allocated or operating on what frequency.

“The airwaves are a limited public resource and the public needs to know who owns what or who was allocated what,” Woolford stated.

Public register
He said the NFMU, like the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, GGMC should have a public register of who has what “claims.”
The licences under Jagdeo may very well have been issued under the Wireless and Telegraph Act which has now been overtaken by the Broadcast Act.
Hughes said she expects that the licences granted just before Jagdeo left office would have been set aside and have those applicants abide by the new rules.
“What system was used to grant these licences?’

A small country like Guyana needs 45 radio stations? This is madness. I don't agree with the govt being the ultimate judge of who should get or not get radio license.  There must be some transparent metrics to determine the process of awarding radio license. However it must be judicious as in the wrong hands a radio station will only give the opposition an outlet to foster more "mo fiah slow fiah" and perpetuate "kill the cockaroach"  ala Rawanda. 

Hey Lowlife Turncoat, seems like my responses to your lies have a therapeutic effect on your asinine behaviour.

It is people like you that should be prevented from spewing hatred on the airwaves. Your source of facts is "dem bai seh" and you are foul mouthed, attacking people with  vulgar name calling when they disagree with your opinion. hahahahahaha 

Got your attention. Low lives like you should not be allowed to breed. Show me where I am foul mouthed brainless jackass.

45 applicants.

A small country like Guyana cannot sustain more than 3 radio stations and with internet radio on the scene it will even be more difficult for some of them to survive.

However that's not the issue at this time. The issue is the denial of Radio licenses and the process of how the few were handed out.

So then, who decides who gets these few licenses?

I think it is an easy decision, let us not reinvent the wheel. Let us look to mature democracies to determine how it is done. 

True, but Guyana is far from a mature democracy and is tainted by ethnic and other divisions.  45 is too much, but let's say 8-10, then there need to be a robust and equitable process granting license so one one feels shorted.

The onus is on President Ramotar to right this injustice and avoid tarnishing his reputation

Dear Editor,

The recent disclosure that Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop, owner of Guyana Times, was given a radio licence in preference to the ‘Media of Choice’ in Guyana -Kaieteur News, and the other independent daily -Stabroek News, is nothing short of an abomination. This decision is not right, and smells very fishy.

Earlier, I had applaud the PPP/C Administration for passing the Broadcasting Bill in Parliament, and the decision by government to grant radio licences to qualified applicants. Guyana is a growing democracy, and everything must be done to accommodate those voices of dissension, for it makes our democracy stronger, and protects the rights of our citizens.

Last January, the Guyana Media Proprietors Association -GMPA viewed the announcement of the allocation of radio licences with a “deep sense of hopefulness” but insisted that “the granting of right of Media to operate in our society must by all means be insulated from the appearance and possibility of political manoeuvrings…The transparent process must be open to public scrutiny thereby isolating it from suspicions or accusations of the imposition of political obligations which definitely impede media playing their parts in the deepening of our fragile democracy,” and suggested that, “much of the ills and unprofessional conduct and products of media outlets is directly due to the absence of a broad based Broadcast (Authority) Commission of competent professionals insulated from the day to day political manoeuvrings of the society and with powers to regulate and apply sanctions if and when necessary.”

With the ascension of Donald Ramotar as Head of State, Guyana became much more transparent in awarding contracts and opened doors to public scrutiny. Yet, more needs to be done. President Ramotar must not allow decisions like this to compromise his integrity and sense of fairness.

Both Kaieteur News and Stabroek News have often been critical of the PPP/C Administration, and sometimes justifiably so. The opinions and articles in the media may not always be fair and objective, but government red tape sometimes prevents a ‘breaking news’ from being fully authenticated, and the decision to publish is taken based on the distrust of the administration and the importance of the news item. This usually forces the government to ‘come clean’ with an appropriate response or explanation that could have been prevented.

I vividly recalled exposing Makeshwar ‘Fip’ Motilall as an opportunist who lacked the ability to build the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project access road. Yet despite the many warnings in the press, Motilall was still awarded the lucrative US$15.4 million contract without due diligence; road building equipment; knowledge and experience. Had the Jagdeo Administration listened to constructive criticism, the hydro project would have been on target with a much lower construction cost to taxpayers. And the administration would have avoided hearing those dreadful words, “I told you so” from those pessimists in the opposition.

Like it or not, the media has an important role to play in every democracy. It keeps the government in check, and that’s not a bad thing. Despite the government bashing, I firmly believe both independent media try to be objective.
As a matter of public disclosure, I am close friend of Glenn Lall, publisher of Kaieteur News, and a regular contributor to its letter column. But my relationship with Glenn does not prejudice my views here.

Both Kaieteur News and Stabroek News have been established long before the Guyana Times, with both having a much wider circulation than the latter. There can be no justification barring victimization, for Dr. ‘Bobby’ Ramroop, a personal friend of the former President, to be granted a radio licence, and deny Glenn Lall the same right.

Guyana needs to rise above the pettiness that has long eroded our values and development. Donald Ramotar is fair and just, and a President of all Guyana. I am confident he had nothing to do with this decision. But the onus is now on him to right this frightening injustice, and avoid tarnishing the reputation he has spent his entire life building.

Harry Gill

StabroekNews and Kaieteur News have the resources to compete effectively and 'immediately' with the 2 Gov't funded broadcast outfits (Ramroop/Jagdeo is the 2nd one); therefore, meaningful liberalization will be delayed by Freedom House as long as possible.

Smoke & mirrors is the order of the day . . . old communist habits die hard

Kwame McCoy, others evaluated radio licence applicants

President’s Press and Publicity Officer in Office of the President, Kwame McCoy, was among those who approved the issue of new radio licences. One of the licences was granted to the best friend of former President Bharrat Jagdeo in a process veteran broadcaster Cathy Hughes described as unfair.

Kwame McCoy

 

“It is absolutely clear that the system does not provide fairly and equitably for everybody,” Hughes, a Member of Parliament, said yesterday.
She said that it was unfair that applications that were sitting for some 15 years were not considered when the ten new radio licences were recently issued under the hand of former President Bharrat Jagdeo.

One of the new licencees already on air is owned and operated by Dr Ranjisinghi Ramroop, the best friend of Jagdeo. Those who evaluated the applicants, apart from McCoy, were Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon; Network Administration at the Office of the President, Roy Jagnandan; and Head of the Project Cycle Management Division of the Ministry of Finance, Tarchand Balgobin.
“I don’t see anybody there that could be considered independent or technically competent,” Hughes told a press conference yesterday.

According to Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, in response to questions posed by Mrs Hughes, entities with applications more than five years old were written to confirm their continued interest. Only those who re-confirmed were considered.
But this had to be a blatant untruth. Neither Kaieteur News nor Stabroek News was written to.

Among the criteria used for evaluating the applications were experience and capability in the broadcasting and communication fields, “fit and proper” (background security checks and current and previous business ventures) and “spectrum considerations.”

According to the Prime Minister, no formal scoring system was used to determine who will get a licence, but that the applications were considered on their merits.
Just before he left office in the run up to the November 28, 2011 elections, Jagdeo granted licences to Dr Ramroop’s Television Guyana, the Matthews Ridge Community Council, Little Rock Television Station, Alfro Alphonso and Sons Enterprise, New Guyana Company Limited, National Television Network, Hits and Jams Entertainment, Wireless Connections, Mr Rudy Grant, Telcor and Cultural Broadcasting, and Linden Wireless Communication Network.

For Hughes, a Parliamentarian with the seven-seat Alliance for Change (AFC) the process smacks of favouritism to benefit those closely aligned to the Jagdeo government.

She said that she knows personally of one application by someone who has been recognised as a pioneer in the broadcast industry in Guyana and the Caribbean, but this individual was not given a licence.

Cathy Hughes

While it is the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU) that determines the frequency under which the stations will broadcast, the Minister of Information – a portfolio assigned to the President – has the prerogative to grant licences.
Enrico Woolford, who studied international telecommunications policy, has repeated his call for the NFMU to publish who is allocated or operating on what frequency, either for public or cable broadcasting.

“The airwaves are a limited public resource and the public needs to know who owns what or who was allocated what,” Woolford stated.

The licences under Jagdeo may very well have been issued under the Wireless and Telegraph which has now been overtaken by the Broadcast Act.
Recently, the Chairman of the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority, Bibi Shadick, said that previous applications for radio and television licences, some of which were pending for years, have been set aside.

Hughes said that she expected that the licences granted just before Jagdeo left office would have been set aside and have those applicants abide by the new rules.

Hughes said that the system under which those licences were issued under Jagdeo smacked of secrecy. She said that the matter of issuing a licence should be as open as possible given the important role broadcasters play in society.

These corrupt people knows no limit. It will be up to the people to impose those on them.

Cricket, football and the Marriott Hotel project

There is a division in football. There is a division in cricket. There is a division on whether to build the Marriott Hotel. These divisions are multiplying the headaches of the Guyanese people at a time when they are supposed to be enjoying the fruits of ongoing economic growth and development.

This column looks at the three divisions so as to understand their sources.
The division in local football has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with competition between two corporate beverage giants. One is supporting one football tournament and the other is supporting the other.

Local football and the fans are being caught in the middle since one football association has sanctioned one tournament and the official federation has sanctioned the other.

Like last year, the finals of both competitions will be held on the same day, thereby forcing fans to split their loyalties, and forcing teams also to decide which tournament they will play in.

This division was exploited last year for political purposes but the source of the division in football is not political in nature.In local cricket, there are also divisions. There are two Demerara Boards. But this division is not a political division in the sense of each faction having its own political support.

One faction is independent of politics and the other faction has the support of powerful political figures within the government who have their own agenda towards the administration of cricket.

The opposition parties are about to consider a Bill tabled by the government before the National Assembly. This Bill would effectively place the administration of cricket under the thumb of the government.

Such a development will mean that Guyana will not be allowed to participate in international or regional cricket because there is no way that either the International Cricket Council or the West Indies Cricket Board is going to respect any formation that arises out of a government- inspired process.

The opposition does not understand the motivations behind the plan to takeover cricket. It is not to put things right. There was a mechanism in place which would have allowed by now for the disputing sides to resolve their differences. But the government is not interested in resolving anything concerning cricket. The government wants to prevail.

What the government is after is control because there is big money to be made in cricket and in fact the West Indies cricket Board will soon have its own 20/20 league to match those to the IPL, the Champions League and the Big Bash.
The oligarchy in Guyana had the foresight to recognize that cricket is a money- spinner and the government appreciates the political capital that it can earn by being in control of cricket in Guyana.

As such it launched one of the most vicious campaigns to unseat and unravel the existing cricket board. This campaign has involved open political intimidation which would not have been risked in any other sport.

This shows how important to the government is the control of cricket. They want to get their hands on the administration of cricket so that they can reap the political benefits and their cronies can profit in the process.

The opposition is being naïve as regards the legislation and should repel it because it is the most dangerous piece of legislation. There are business and political interests behind the plan to take over cricket and these interests have coalesced.

The same coalescing has taken place as regards the construction of the Marriott Hotel. The construction of this hotel represents a serious challenge to two business interests. The old bourgeoisie class knows that the new oligarchy will be enriched by the construction of this hotel. They therefore want this hotel to be stopped because they fear the implications for their own survival.

On the other hand, the government which is siding with the new oligarchic class wants this hotel to be built to strengthen its reach in Guyana.
Caught in the middle are the people of Guyana who are being wooed to either support this hotel project or not to support it.

The divisions here are both political and economic since there is a merger between the government and the new oligarchic class and there is an opposition party that has ties to a member of the old bourgeoisie class that is opposed to the construction of this hotel.

The people must understand these dynamics because politicians like to invoke the interests of the people when they are pursuing the interests of the propertied class be it in football, cricket or in the construction of the Marriott Hotel.

I borrowed to purchase Pegasus and do refurbishment and that’s how it should be with Marriott, President Jagdeo

Posted By Stabroek staff On July 28, 2010 @ 5:02 am In Letters | 34 Comments