By Vanessa Braithwaite

AFTER months of bickering it seems that the way has been cleared for the Linden Television Station to go into operation following a meeting with high government representatives and the expansion of the caretaker company- Region 10 Broadcasting Inc Board of Trustees.According to Mayor of Linden Carwyn Holland, the selection was made by the representatives of the various stakeholders present at the consultation hosted by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo. In attendance also were Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Valarie Patterson and Director of Public Information, Imran Khan in Georgetown on Wednesday.

The call for the Trust to be extended was made in February at a consultation held in Linden, chaired by Prime Minister Nagamootoo, who recommended that the membership be extended to include a wider cross section of stakeholders in the Region. This call was also echoed by Chairman of the GNBA, Leonard Craig who reiterated that the Trust is the officially recognised agency of the station and rather than form a new Trust, it was recommended that it be extended.

Given this mandate, Secretary of the Trust, Sharma Solomon previously told the media that correspondences were immediately sent to the various stakeholders requesting that a representative be chosen to join the Board of Trustees. “The board immediately held a meeting with all five members and agreed to facilitate and have that bone of contention dealt with and settled by having all those members at the stake holders meeting to be a part of the board,” said Mr. Solomon. This however did not go well with Regional Officials and according to Mayor Holland; the representatives were tasked with making their selections at Wednesday’s consultation.

He further revealed that the Trust, which currently has four legal directors namely Mr. Sharma Solomon, Ms. Sandra Vantull, Morris McKinnon, Gloria Britain was extended to 15 members. In addition to the present four, the Regional Democratic Council has the majority share with three representatives, namely Mr. Renis Morian, Mrs. Sandra Adams and Mr., Phillip Bynoe.

Representing the Mayor and Town Council is Mr. Carwyn Holland, Mayor of Linden and his deputy Ms. Waneka Arrindale. Representing Central Government is two Regional MP’s, Mr. Jermaine Figueira and Mr. Audwin Rutherford. Representing the Chamber of Commerce is Mr. Kevin DeYounge, while Mr. Leslie Gonsalves will represent the Guyana Trades Union Congress. Ms. Merna Adrian will represent the Neighbourhood Democratic Council. Mayor Holland told media operatives that the current legal members of the Trust was mandated to call a meeting within seven days of which the extended members will be summons after that stipulated time to commence the process of moving forward.

According to Holland the Regional Chairman was selected as the new Chairman of the Board. “It was established that the authority on this television station will first stand with the Region so that the people of Linden will have a true representation,” posited the Mayor.

Regional Chairman Morian in an invited comment said that his desire is to have the process expedited so that the television station can benefit from subventions from the Government in a timely manner.

The Regional officials believe that the ongoing controversy surrounding the television station will finally be put to rest since a way forward has been paved. “I believe that it was a fruitful meeting with everyone present, it was a meaningful engagement and I’m very pleased with the persons who attended and who were part of the discussions,” mentioned Mr. Holland. He also congratulated former Regional Chairman Solomon for taking up the baton in having the television station returned to Linden.

The television station’s Trust was formed by Solomon during his tenure as Regional Chairman after realising that the law does not allow for a television station to be controlled by an RDC or an individual but only by a Trust or a company. In so doing Solomon, along with prominent members of the community, joined together thus forming the Trust (Region 10 Broadcasting Inc.). The policy states however that any member of the community to be part owner of the station should be residing in Linden or be owners of persons within the community. The application for the station was made after residents complained about the limited and bias content that they were subjected to. The Government signed an agreement to grant the license August 21st 2012 after a deadly protest by the residents of Linden.