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Court: Guyana gov't radio monopoly unlawful
by Daily Nation
Posted: Oct 16, 2009 13:33 UTC
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GEORGETOWN - The Guyana Court of Appeal yesterday ruled that the government has an unlawful monopoly on the airwaves and it said that the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU) is not doing its job with respect to considering radio licence applications.
In a landmark ruling in a case brought by VCT it charged that the NFMU has been procrastinating over the years.
The Court led by Chancellor (ag) Carl Singh and comprising Justices of Appeal B.S. Roy and Yonette Cummings-Edwards allowed an appeal filed by local television pioneer Anthony Vieira on behalf of Vieira Communications Limited (VCT) ruling that VCT’s fundamental right to freedom of expression and freedom to receive and communicate ideas and information was contravened.
The Court referred to precedents in the region and other jurisdictions while citing several authorities on the issue.
VCT had applied for a radio licence since 1993 and the court said yesterday that both the government and the NFMU failed to acknowledge receipt of the application. VCT had asked that the court order NFMU to issue it with a radio licence forthwith but the Court said there are technicalities involved in making such a decision, noting that it lacks the expertise to make such an evaluation. It said the NFMU is the entity which is well placed to make such an evaluation, and it called on the unit to “do its job”. However, the court did direct the NFMU to consider and determine VCT’s application for a radio broadcast licence which was made since the early 1990s.
Vieira was charged in 2001 with setting up an unauthorized radio station after the NFMU traced an audio transmission to his Versailles station, but the case was later dismissed for want of prosecution.
Prior to the indictment Vieira was informed by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds that he and others interested in radio licences must wait on the outcome of deliberations of a Committee set up by President Bharrat Jagdeo and then Opposition Leader, H.D. Hoyte – the Committee on Radio Monopoly, Non-Partisan Boards and Broadcasting Legislation. The Court said yesterday that eight years have elapsed since the PM’s statements and there was no indication that any report by the Committee has been completed and submitted to the government.
Ironically, Vieira has since sold his TV station to the Ramroop Group and has migrated.
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