AFC commends NCN initiative to host weekly debate – Nagamootoo

-    Notes panel was selected arbitrarily and disproportionally

The Alliance For Change (AFC) has welcomed the initiative from National Communications Network (NCN) to host a weekly discussion on the television station on topical issues, according to executive member of AFC and Parliamentarian Moses Nagamootoo.
According to the time table and notice dispatched to the party, the programme was to have commenced since last Sunday at 11:00hrs.

The programme is as follows:

“The selection of the panel was arbitrary and disproportionate. AFC notes that it’s a wakeup call for NCN to democratize its programme and to reflect the plurality in society. This has not gone unheeded,” Nagamootoo noted.
However, he said NCN has narrowed the panel to a Government opposition engagement rather than one that involves the three parliamentary parties.
He explained that NCN has also arbitrarily selected the AFC, APNU and Government representatives. And in the case of the AFC the party reserves the right to select its own representatives.
“NCN has contemptuously allocated to the AFC in a disproportionate way only one representative out of 14 to feature on the panel…and NCN has unilaterally set a time table for the weekly discussion without any prior consultation with the AFC which raises the reasonable suspicion that this can all be another propaganda show.”
Nagamootoo, on a lighter note, said that it is indeed a step in the right direction for national development.
According to APNU’s point man on finance, Carl Greenidge, who is listed as being one of the first persons on the Parliamentary Opposition Representative list, he did not personally receive a notice from NCN pertaining to the discussions on the TV Station.
A Partnership for National Unity Executive, Lance Carberry, says NCN has a responsibility to ensure that opposition members are thoroughly informed about the debates.