C.N Sharma
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo on Sunday announced that he will let the four-month suspension on CNS TV6 begin from December 1 instead of October 3, so that the opposition parties will have no excuse for the defeat they will suffer at the hands of the PPP in the upcoming general and regional elections.
Jagdeo made the revelation at the PPP’s rally in Kitty where he also made it public that he had signed an order identifying November 28 as the election date.
“I will allow Sharma to broadcast for the next two months and start the suspension from December 1 … I’m gonna take away any excuse that they would have.”
According to the president, the PPP wants the opposition to participate so that they can “trash their asses”.
A senior PPP official said that CNS TV6 would be able to restart broadcasting immediately.
When contacted, AFC presidential candidate Khemraj Ramjattan expressed happiness at the deferment of the ban.
“I’m glad that he has put an end to his method of making playthings out of television stations. I’m glad that what he defaced he has now restored.”
According to Ramjattan, the move was “extremely happy tidings” for his party which had put arrangements in place with the CNS TV6 before the suspension. He added that he believes the president’s move was as a result of the “pressure” brought to bear by the different groups since the imposition of the suspension.
However, PNCR Leader Robert Corbin was more reticent in his response to the news, saying Jagdeo committed to many things that never came to pass.
“Jagdeo’s word cannot be relied upon,” the Leader of the Opposition stated.
He added that he would believe it when he sees an official letter informing the Sharmas of the shift in the ban. Corbin was attending a vigil outside State House at the time.
CNS TV6, a largely pro-opposition station, went off air at 6pm on October 3 for a broadcast breach which attracted a four-month ban from President Jagdeo in his capacity as Minister of Information. The opposition parties and civil society groups have contended that the ban was timed to coincide with the elections period in order to deprive the parties of a voice at this time.
The parties had also approached the Guyana Elections Commission to intervene and have the ban shifted to after the elections, while there was a call for a boycott of the elections from the Guyana Trades Union Congress, which the opposition coalition, A Partnership for National Unity, had said it would consider.
A coalition of civil society groups and opposition parties had also began holding public meetings and vigils outside the president’s official residence, State House, to press for the suspension to be lifted.
At a news conference on Tuesday Jagdeo denied that the timing of the suspension was politically motivated saying that the recommendation came from the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB). He said the ACB had recommended a suspension of at least six months and he had put the matter of the duration to the Sharmas, with CN Sharma suggesting two months and his wife, Savitree, four months.
The suspension stemmed from a Tony Vieira commentary aired on May 4 which criticised then chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission Bishop Juan Edghill who has since sued both the station and Vieira for GUY$25M each. The government contends that the broadcast was preaching religious divisiveness and acrimony.
CNS TV6 had been suspended at least twice before for broadcast breaches.
