President says Sharma suggested two-month ban, his wife suggested four

President Bharrat Jagdeo, on Tuesday October 4, cleared the air on the banning for four months of CNS Television Channel 6, saying it had nothing to do with Sharma - the individual, and that his wife and programme manager, Savitree Singh, had asked that the penalty be reduced to ‘four months’ at the meeting he had with the couple on Friday.

The President also made it very clear that it was not a political decision, as some critics and opposition elements are suggesting, but a decision that arose from recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB).

Speaking at a press conference, Mr. Jagdeo told reporters the ACB had recommended that CNS TV6 be suspended “for at least six months” and he was in receipt of that recommendation since June despite Sharma’s move to the court to block him from receiving it.

The suspension stemmed from the broadcasting of a commentary by Tony Vieira in which he made disparaging remarks about the religious community and Bishop Juan Edghill, who has since sued him and the television station. The ACB became involved as it constituted a broadcasting breach.

RECOMMENDATION : President Jagdeo, in giving a brief synopsis of the events leading to the suspension, noted that a complaint was filed by Edghill to the ACB, which at that time was made up of the Chairman Evan Persaud (representing Government), the nominee of the Leader of the Opposition Ron Case, and the private sector nominee Norman McLean.

QUOTE: “The boundaries that we shall not cross in these elections are race and religion. People’s race and religion are sacred. Every decentminded Guyanese, regardless of whether you like the Government or not, you should be intolerant to any attempt to use race and religion and I hope that we could count on all Guyanese for this...These things harmed our country in almost irreparable ways in the past. We have to ensure that this does not happen in the future.” - President Jagdeo

The President said these are the three persons who looked at this issue, and later provided him with their consideration and conclusion of the complaints about CNS Channel 6’s airing of Mr. Vieira’s commentary.

Mr. Jagdeo said the ACB’s finding constitutes offences against the Constitution, the Laws of Guyana and Sharma’s television licence.

“The (ACB) considered the matter and they recommended that Sharma be suspended for at least six months. They took into consideration that there were three other transgressions of a similar nature,” the President told reporters, adding that there was a progression in the transgressions and hence he was sanctioned for one day, then for one week and then for four months.

QUOTE: “I did not initiate this matter. It was initiated separately. I made it clear to Sharma that this went beyond Edghill. It was the content of the broadcast that was reprehensible. The content was intended to incite religious intolerance and disparage religions values in this country, which is reprehensible to our Constitution, the Laws of Guyana and, more particularly, to the licence.” President Jagdeo

“When the ACB sent their recommendation to me, Sharma went to the Court in June to prevent the ACB from having the recommendation come to me. Eventually, that injunction was lifted and I got the copy of the recommendation. A few weeks later, I invited Sharma in. At that meeting I made it public what he said, that he admitted that he [committed] an infringement of the licence, that he was sorry and that he had made a mistake and that they mixed up the tape and showed this,” the President said.

REGULATORY BAN “So I said to him that I will take into consideration all the issues you raised and meet you back. I travelled a bit and then I called Sharma. I said I would write him but I did not. He came to see me with Savitree [Singh] and I said to him that, based on the recommendations of the ACB, I was inclined to suspend him for eight months. “They (Sharma and his wife) started going on about the business and that they had loans to pay and a whole range of things. So I said to Sharma, in the presence of Dr. Roger Luncheon, do you think that I should do nothing about this, because this is a regulatory issue. This has nothing to do with Sharma - the individual,” the President said.

ZERO TOLERANCE “I made it clear, I am not tolerating any attempt to divide our people [using] race or religion, election season or no election season,” Mr. Jagdeo declared. 

“That was the crux of the matter. That’s why they recommended [a minimum of] six months. I explained this to Sharma over and over and over...that it had nothing to do with Edghill and apologising to Edghill. So I said to him, ‘do you think you should avoid sanction?’ ‘What do you think is reasonable?’