BREAKING: Subhan, others to step down as part of major shake-up at state media outlets
Head of the Government Information Agency (GINA) Neaz Subhan has resigned from his post and several senior state media officials are expected to hand in their resignations shortly.
A source in the new administration told NewsNow that Beverly Alert, herself a former GINA employee, having resigned several years ago, is earmarked to replace Subhan as GINA’s Head. Alert is a member of the AFC component in the coalition.
The government, the source said, is looking forward to the resignations of GINA Editor-in-Chief Shanta Goberdhan, Guyana Chronicle Editor-in-Chief acting, Mark Ramotar and General Manager Michael Gordon, National Communications Network (NCN) Chief Executive Officer Molly Hassan, Marketing Manager Raymond Azeez, Human Resources Manager Daren Khan and Senior Editor, Edward Layne. It is also understood that the government is considering reassigning Hassan to the Marketing portfolio at NCN.
Reports also indicate that GINA is indebted to Chronicle to the tune of over GY$70M for state advertisements placed and refused to settle its debts claiming lack of finances. This is despite GINA having spent tens of millions of dollars for the production and printing of the controversial “Guyanese Newspaper” in the United States.
The Coalition government is also expected to completely replace both the NCN and GNNL Boards of Directors.
With 177 employees on the NCN payroll, the entity is also considered by the new government to be extremely bloated, particularly in the administrative department where the former government is believed to have inserted employees for political reasons. NCN is operating at a multi-million dollar loss on a monthly basis and the new government is keen on streamlining its operations to bring it into a state of profitability. A complete re-branding and makeover of NCN’s marquee programmes such as the Six O’Clock News and Guyana Today is also on the cards with a new cadre of anchors and presenters expected to replace the current crop, the source said.