–PM to ask President to appoint investigator into corruption scandal

PRIME Minister Moses Nagamootoo has called for a thorough inquiry into allegations of corruption at the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA), and said he would soon be requesting the President to appoint an investigator to conduct the probe.Noting that he is extremely disappointed with the performance of the board to refine regulations that would guide licensing of radio and television broadcasters here, the Prime Minister observed that, instead of getting down to its work, the board’s minutes are being leaked and its work is being stymied.

The GNBA is presently caught up in a corruption scandal, wherein broadcaster Kenwin Charles of Essequibo has accused directors Anthony Vieira and Vic Insanally of trying to force him to sell his operations to a prominent businessman.

Chairman of the GNBA Board, Leonard Craig, in a subsequent statement, said the allegations of corruption levelled against Vieira and Insanally will be fully investigated. He said, too, that if allegations can be substantiated, this development would constitute a major blow to the integrity of the members concerned.

“I will carry out a complete investigation of the facts relating to matters raised by Mr. Charles. I will review the reports of the meetings, elicit a response from the members concerned, and will release an official statement in the coming days,” he said.

However, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, who has ministerial responsibility for the broadcast sector, has said he does not want any of the parties involved in this issue to be part of the investigation, and accordingly would ask the President to appoint an investigator. “We need to get to the bottom of this,” the Prime Minister declared.

Nagamootoo said that Charles had met with him and had made some serious allegations regarding his meeting with two members of the GNBA Board. Nagamootoo said he considered the complaints serious enough to urge Charles to put them in writing and forward same to the board.

“I had expected the board to pronounce on this matter and cause an investigation. I have since seen a lawyer’s letter purporting to gag the board. It is my considered opinion that nothing defamatory was disclosed,” he said.

Vieira and Insanally last Friday demanded an apology and compensation from Craig for recent comments they deem defamatory. Through their attorneys at the Satram and Satram law firm, the two directors have said that Craig’s failure to comply with their demands would result in legal proceedings being instituted against him.

Through their attorneys, Vieira and Insanally said on Friday that Charles is an unlicensed operator and a board committee had decided to meet with such operators and seek to regularise their operations. The two directors say the allegation raised by Charles was not brought to their attention for a response at the last board meeting, and Craig’s repetition of the allegations made by Charles was malicious and calculated to bring them into public hatred, contempt, and ridicule.

Through their attorneys, they added: “There is no truth in the published allegations made by Mr. Charles, who is operating illegally and is in no position to sell his operation. You (Craig) are directly responsible for the circulation of these false allegations, which will be deemed to have originated from you.”

The law firm has said its clients are entitled to damages for defamation and reputational injury caused as a direct result of Craig’s conduct.

DISAPPOINTED
Notwithstanding the scandal, Nagamootoo slammed the board for dragging out the refining of regulations that would guide licensing of radio and television operators, and urged that the board treat with this matter with alacrity.

“The regulation should be tabled in Parliament and passed, so that all broadcasters will have to comply with defined standards,” the PM said. He said this would also allow for the review of licences granted by the Bharrat Jagdeo Administration which appear to be irregular.

Back in August, the PM had also expressed concern over what appears to be the stymieing of efforts to provide full television and radio coverage to citizens across the country. He had told the Guyana Chronicle then that draft regulations were sent to him by Chairman of the GNBA, and those regulations were reviewed and dispatched to the Attorney General’s Office for further examination.

He explained that, through the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, the AG’s Chambers would have sent the draft regulations back to the GNBA, but no further action has since been taken by the board.

“I am surprised that it has been there languishing in the bosom of the board, or at a sub-committee of the board, and has not been forwarded to me again, so I can pass it through cabinet and then table those regulations in Parliament,” he told the Guyana Chronicle.

The Prime Minister said the GNBA has been hamstrung in the discharge of its mandate, and it was indicated to him, via correspondence from the Chairman of the Board, that there are problems brewing that can assume “crisis dimensions.”

“I responded to the chairman by saying that it seems to be a story internal to the GNBA; that they should summon a meeting of the board and try to sort this thing out,” he said.

The Prime Minister made it clear that the APNU+AFC coalition government had made several promises during the lead-up to the May 2015 elections, and intends to keep those promises. He stressed that the administration is impatient and wants to “see all of the licences for televisions issued regularised.”

“We want to see the new applications that we made processed; and they must have new radios and televisions introduced in our landscape,” remarked Prime Minister Nagamootoo. He said he finds the reports emanating from the GNBA troubling. “I find that troubling because this is one of the boards I (had) expected would have been able to run smoothly and quickly, because there are highly qualified persons within that board…and they should have been able to clean up the issue.”

Asked to provide a timeline by which he expects legislation to be tabled before the National Assembly, the Prime Minister said it is his desire to see the regulations made ready for the reconvening of the Parliament in October. “Whatever is bothering the board, the internal issues…they should be able to resolve those very quickly and move on… We don’t want to enter the New Year and have that cowboy behaviour that prevailed in the broadcasting landscape,” he had declared.

Citizens, he said, deserve better, and ought to have access to information. “Guyanese people deserve better…the spectrum belongs to the people of Guyana, it is a national resource; it is not something that belongs to any private person, and one cannot simply arrogate to one’s self the right to broadcast in a select area. I would like to see television and radio cover all parts of Guyana. Every citizen of this country has a right to know what is taking place in this country,” he stressed.