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April 30, 2016  Source

There are currently 44 new applications for television, radio and cable licences according to Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) Chairman Leonard Craig who announced yesterday that existing broadcasters will have to reapply for a 2016 licence and a decision is still to be made on controversial licences handed out by the Jagdeo administration in 2011.

“Everybody would have to re-apply and in the re-application process you will be considered on the merit of your application,” Craig said at a press conference held yesterday during which the media was told that Guyana does not have sufficient spectrum to accommodate all of the prospective broadcasters.

He said that re-application does not mean you have to full out a new application but simply means it will go into a pile with everything else and be judged based on merits. “So it doesn’t mean we will call you to say take a blank application, fill it out and submit it again. Re- application simple means re-evaluation,” he explained.

Craig noted that the Authority is reorganising the broadcasting landscape and in so doing persons may not end up at the same spot they are at today. He said that because of this the Authority does not want to create an expectation in anybody’s mind that they will continue to exist on the spot that they are in. As a result of this he said that the Authority’s position is that while things are going through this process, consultation sessions will be held. So far, the Authority has met with TV broadcasters to update them on this reorganising process. According to Craig, subsequent to all the meetings (TV radio and cable) fees will be asked for.

“So, it is a sacrifice we are making. It is a loss of income indeed but sometimes we have to make a sacrifice in order to get things to go in the right direction,” he said.

The GNBA yesterday spoke of the controversial licences that were issued by former President Bharrat Jagdeo shortly before his tenure ended in 2011.

Craig, in a statement, said that the Board at all of its statutory meetings to date has discussed this issue and decided that the said “licences appear to have been issued contrary to and in violation of good administrative practices, as the said licences appeared to have been arbitrarily issued to persons and entities with close ties to the decision maker and without regard to prior existing applications.”

Further, he said that the decision would have pre-empted the application of the Broadcasting Act which was already assented to but was awaiting a date to come into operation and this was entirely within the authority of the said former President, who was also holding the portfolio as subject Minister as provided for by Section 1 of the said Act.

He noted that the issues relating to the said licences pose “difficult questions which ought only to be determined after deliberate consideration of the legal options available which includes but is not limited to litigation.”

In this regard, he said the Board has been in consultation with senior legal practitioners on this issue and it is our intention in keeping with our mandate to regulate, supervise and develop the National Broadcasting Systems, to make a decision as soonest.

Board director Anthony Vieira made it clear that the Authority is not in agreement with the way in which those licences were granted and “our agenda is to revoke them. That is our decision and that is we would like the public and the media to know. We are revoking those licences.”

Shortly before the 2011 general elections, Jagdeo had distributed a number of radio licences and frequencies among mainly friends and supporters of the PPP.

Vieira said that the minute the authority makes a move to revoke a licence it will end up in court with an injunction restraining it from stopping the person from broadcasting and or not paying any fees until the matter has been resolved.

He said that this is what the Authority is trying to avoid and is trying to put together a case involving the Jagdeo-issued licences with the assistance of himself, Insanally, Abiola Wong-Innis and through consultation with Sir Fenton Ramsahoye SC. He said that within a week or two, “we will start to see the results of the advice,” He said that the first advice was that the Authority should go back to Parliament but the Authority believes that this is a long and drawn out procedure and therefore may opt for a case of “taking the bull by the horn and going to court.” Using himself as an example he said that his case for a radio licence was filed in 2001 and was only determined in 2009.

“That is what is holding us up. We need to put a case whereby when you launched the case it is launched in such a way that it would not be easy for anyone to obtain an injunction to set aside your decision to withdraw the licence based on being heard in a dysfunctional legal system,” he said.

Director and attorney-at-law Wong-Inniss later said that it is important to note that the frequencies and the spectrum belong to the people of Guyana and when the decision was made to issue licences “we believe given the manner in which it was done and persons to whom it was done …they were subject and vulnerable to challenges from that moment”. She said that this was done in 2012. “We inherited a problem”, she said, pointing out that there are various options available to the Authority to deal with this matter including litigation and going to the legislature to correct the problem that exist.

She said that the factor is time as it relates to which method would be the most appropriate and later pointed out that the difficulty arises because at the time that the licences were issued there were already applications existing prior to those licences being granted.

Wong-Innis stressed that this issue poses many questions and the answers lie either though the court system or the legislature.

“I can assure you that a decision will be made shortly and we know that as we stand here that a decision is made to challenge it, the question is the manner in which it is to be done,” she said.

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“Everybody would have to re-apply and in the re-application process you will be considered on the merit of your application,” Craig said at a press conference .....

What does this mean?

FM
ksazma posted:

“Everybody would have to re-apply and in the re-application process you will be considered on the merit of your application,” Craig said at a press conference .....

What does this mean?

Re- application simple means re-evaluation,” he explained.

Django

Sounds like a revocation of all past licences. What beats me is why Guyana being such a small nation need so many radio stations. They looking to outdo the bandwidth of NY area.

FM
Django posted:
ksazma posted:

“Everybody would have to re-apply and in the re-application process you will be considered on the merit of your application,” Craig said at a press conference .....

What does this mean?

Re- application simple means re-evaluation,” he explained.

Django bai, I meant the "merit of your application" part. What does that mean?

FM
ksazma posted:
Django posted:
ksazma posted:

“Everybody would have to re-apply and in the re-application process you will be considered on the merit of your application,” Craig said at a press conference .....

What does this mean?

Re- application simple means re-evaluation,” he explained.

Django bai, I meant the "merit of your application" part. What does that mean?

The chap means if it is good or worthy,then you will be considered.

Django
Django posted:
ksazma posted:
Django posted:
ksazma posted:

“Everybody would have to re-apply and in the re-application process you will be considered on the merit of your application,” Craig said at a press conference .....

What does this mean?

Re- application simple means re-evaluation,” he explained.

Django bai, I meant the "merit of your application" part. What does that mean?

The chap means if it is good or worthy,then you will be considered.

What does good or worthy mean?

FM
ksazma posted:
Django posted:
ksazma posted:
Django posted:
ksazma posted:

“Everybody would have to re-apply and in the re-application process you will be considered on the merit of your application,” Craig said at a press conference .....

What does this mean?

Re- application simple means re-evaluation,” he explained.

Django bai, I meant the "merit of your application" part. What does that mean?

The chap means if it is good or worthy,then you will be considered.

What does good or worthy mean?

bhai not much difference in the meaninig,unless he meant mula

Django
Django posted:

bhai not much difference in the meaninig,unless he meant mula

Django bai, so how difficult it is to understand what people from this government mean when they make statements?

FM
Last edited by Former Member
ksazma posted:
Django posted:

bhai not much difference in the meaninig,unless he meant mula

Django bai, so how difficult it is to understand what people from this government mean when they make statements?

If you doan wanna understan it, you simply don't.

It probably means, if you got it handed to you because you's a fren of a fren you just might not be getting it rass back.

cain
ksazma posted:

“Everybody would have to re-apply and in the re-application process you will be considered on the merit of your application,” Craig said at a press conference .....

What does this mean?

Here ya go

TVG “ain’t gon see a licence for 2016″- GNBA

May 1, 2016 | By | Filed Under News 

By Abena Rockcliffe- Campbell
Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop’s constant refusal to furnish the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) with the audited financial statements of his television station—Television Guyana Inc.—will most likely see him off air. This was made clear by GNBA’s Director, Anthony Vieira.

GNBA Board of Directors, From Left: Vic Insanally, Anthony Vieira, Jocelyn Josiah, Leonard Craig [Chairman), Abiola Wong-Inniss and Ameena Gafoor.

GNBA Board of Directors, From Left: Vic Insanally, Anthony Vieira, Jocelyn Josiah, Leonard Craig (Chairman), Abiola Wong-Inniss and Ameena Gafoor.

The problem between TVG and GNBA is months old but never made the press.
GNBA recently held its first press conference. At that forum, Kaieteur News asked if the matter was resolved. The Board responded in the negative.
Director, Anthony Vieira said, “To the best of my knowledge (Ramroop) still has not presented his accounts…He ain’t gon see a licence for 2016″
Dr. Ramroop had taken GNBA to court over the Authority’s decision not to furnish it with its yearly broadcasting licence certificate.  The writ was filed since October 4, last.
Kaieteur News understands that the matter was set to come up in the Chief Justice’s court in the matter of days when Ramroop’s lawyers informed the Authority that the case will be withdrawn.
Currently, Television Guyana Inc. (TVG) —Channel 28—is on air without the lawful requirement of being a broadcasting licence.
Kaieteur News understands that the Authority refused to make the licence certificate available as a result of Television Guyana Inc.’s sustained reluctance to provide the Authority with financial statements of the company’s profits for the years 2013 and 2014.
Broadcasters were mandated to pay an annual licensing fee of $2.5M or 3.5 per cent of the company’s earnings. The requirement was to pay whichever is greater.
Television Guyana Inc. paid the $2.5M, but the Authority requested the company’s financial statements in order to make sure that it was not being shortchanged.  GNBA wanted to evaluate the company’s financial statements to ensure that $2.5M is a larger sum than 3.5 per cent of the stations’ earnings.
Therefore, the Authority took a stand that it would not give Television Guyana Inc. a licence until such time as the required statements were provided.
Instead of providing the financials Television Guyana Inc. petitioned the court for the Authority to issue it with broadcasting licences for the years 2014 and 2015 on the grounds that the decision to refuse to do so, was unlawful and ultra vires (beyond the Authority’s power).
GNBA is the regulatory body tasked with overseeing the operations of radio and television stations in Guyana. It has the Authority to order a delinquent station to go off air. However, Craig said that while it is true that Television Guyana Inc. is operating in violation of the law, the Board did not meet to decide whether it would have ordered the station to go off air, or whether it would have gone ahead with prosecution.
Dr. Ramroop is the best friend of former President Bharrat Jagdeo. Under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration, Dr. Ramroop was able to buy his TV station. He was given several radio frequencies and he established a daily newspaper.

cain

oh rass man not you an dat dam witch huntin bullshit. Dem guys doing nothing ayou rass complain, dem do something and ayou rass want make excuse for that corrupt prik who gave away Guyana to his frens dem.

cain
cain posted:

oh rass man not you an dat dam witch huntin bullshit. Dem guys doing nothing ayou rass complain, dem do something and ayou rass want make excuse for that corrupt prik who gave away Guyana to his frens dem.

I do indeed have a problem with the government dedicating energy and resources so they can have orgasms over Jagdeo while real people are being robbed, beaten, killed or burned to death like those two people I call aunty and uncle.

FM

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