LET me from the outset make it very clear, there is no controversy in Linden with regard to the issuance of the television licence for the station that belongs to the people; it is an orchestrated power grab being carried out to deprive the people of what’s rightly theirs. There are some who hold public offices in Region 10 that are collaborating with a group in Georgetown to hold the people hostage. I am referring to the aborted meetings of the TV Trust held two Fridays ago, which was supposed to have seen the election of the chairman, vice-chairman and secretary.

For years, the PPP/C government used the television station as a whip in its effort to subjugate and marginalise the people. That government misinterpreted the quiet and different resistances as acceptance that the people were prepared to live on their knees rather than die on their feet with their dignity intact. In 2012 when they rose up as a single formidable force against the proposed imposition of increased electricity charges without the required constitutional consultation (Article 13), it sent ripple effects throughout the country and afar.

All of the operatives who are today engaging in this power grab are personally known. Nearly all of them were physically involved in undermining the struggle. This struggle, which was drenched in the people’s sweat, blood and tears, achieved for them an agreement with central Government in August of that year. This agreement commits to return within 14 days of signing, the television station the PPP/C took away from the community.

Let me pause to say, notice has been taken of Sam Hinds’ letter on the television matter in response to an Imran Khan article. There is no interest in attending to the propaganda of their exchange, but I shall deal with Hinds’ vacuous and reckless statements about the issue later. Sam is once again being put on notice that once I am alive he will not be allowed to misrepresent the history of bauxite, where both him and I worked, and the issues surrounding the agreement. If it were not for the administration he was part of that trampled the people’s rights, lives would not have been lost on 12th July, 2012.

The 2012 Agreement includes the establishment of a committee to prepare an Economic Plan. Rather than seeking to bring realisation to this committee that would put bread and butter on the people’s tables, these persons are more interested in fighting to control the television in a manner reminiscent of the PPP/C government. Such pursuit can only be to continue the dastardly conduct the people fought against.

Lindeners must not accept Member of Parliament (MP) Jermaine Figueira’s insulting their intelligence in his claim that the meeting was aborted because the board members were not in receipt of the Trust’s Articles of Association. His story has no bearing on their walk-out from proceeding with an election consistent with the democratic process of secret balloting from which will flow the will of the group.

Balloting is secret in any part of the world. When Fegueira, Regional Chairman Renis Morian, Mayor Carwyn Holland, and CDC Deputy Director Sandra Adams walked out from that meeting because they did not get their way to hold an open vote, is not only clear contempt for the process, but advises that they would undermine anything if they don’t get their way.

The named individuals sat with the Prime Minister to reconfigure the board, so they can sit on it. Now today they are saying that they are unaware of what’s ensconced in the Articles of Association. Clearly, these persons have an obsession with power and titles.

Further, the notion of seeking to say who must be elected to what position in the Trust, which is not a state entity, goes against established principles. That determination must be solely made by the board members. The new machination of determining who must be elected to what position is another attempt to deprive the community of their television. Let’s not forget the first complaint to delay issuance of the licence was that of the then composition of the board.

The establishment of the Trust commenced without one cent from the regional Government, PNC/R, APNU, AFC or the then PPP/C government. It was the donations of kindred persons and a lawyer, who on recognising the circumstances offered to do the paperwork and filing pro bono.

The team that did the rehabilitative work at the site of the dish at Richmond Hill was led by Pastor Sills, included members from his church, and supported by Gordon “Badheart” Callender, and others. This was a self-help effort where direct costs were only borne for the purchasing of materials. There were two regional MPs at the time — Vanessa Kissoon and Renis Morian. Kissoon was the one who made her presence felt during this process.

Nowhere during the challenging efforts of putting systems in place to get the station and licence going was the presence or contribution of Morian, Adams, Holland and Fegueira felt or seen. In fact, it was the trade union community that was tasked the responsibility of sourcing financing to get the project off the ground.

The history behind the community’s ownership of this television station began in a room in the United States with two trade union representatives, Morris Drakes (GB&GWU) and Linden Smith (GMWU), and the Green Construction Company. Haslyn Parris, then Chief Executive Officer of GuyMine, consented to make representation to the Forbes Burnham government for the television to be established in Linden. The trade union retains abiding interest in having the television serve its purpose and not used as an instrument against the people.

The people’s struggle of 2012 was given leadership by then Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon, supported by some sections of the religious community, trade union, business, and national and geographic political leadership. This new attempt now to deny the people what’s rightly theirs by a few self-serving persons in Linden and Georgetown must stop. You were lukewarm, absent, or non-supportive of the struggle; you cannot come now and deny those who worked for its achievement.

On matters of rights and the rule of law, I am very uncompromising in my articulation and position. People don’t negotiate their rights; they demand what’s rightly theirs.