Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 27, 2016 News
Linden’s Deputy Mayor Waneka Arrindell is refuting reports of a plot by individuals to ‘ hijack’ the Linden Television Station.
Arrindel said that the Kaieteur News article headlined, “Linden residents suspect plot to hijack TV station”, in which a councilor voiced his dissatisfaction over being “sidelined’, is “mischievous.”
The article, quoted councilor Lennox Gasper as saying he was a part of the information committee under the previous RDC administration headed by former Regional ChairmanSharma Solomon.
It added that Gasper is surprised that he is being “sidelined.”
He further pointed out that he and another councilor (Devin Sears) are also on the Communication Committee on the council( M&TC), and that they were not considered.
In the article, councilor Gasper also stated: “we understand right now that the Mayor has his hands full, but I feel there is a deliberate move to hijack this station for personal agenda.
We need to put the people’s interest forward and I dare ask or petition that they follow a democratic approach. This one is not democratic.”
Arrindel said that what she finds most disturbing, is the fact that a press conference was held with four councilors, and the discussions were not only about the television issue, but several positive things that the Council would have done over the last two and a half months. However no mention was made of those things.
“ I would wish that councilor Jasper would take the energy that he has, to work along with the other councillors to improve this council and make this Town a better place.”
Linden Mayor Carwyn Holland had on Wednesday last, met with Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, Minister of State Joseph Harmon and Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Valerie Adams-Patterson at the Office of the President.
He was subsequently selected to be a representative on the Committee tasked with managing the television station.
Holland later named his deputy, Waneka Arrindell, as the other representative from the Council.
That reportedly did not find favor with a few members of the council, as reported in both this newspaper and other sections of the media.
Holland during a press briefing that was subsequently held on Thursday last, at the Linden Mayor and Town Council had sought to clarify the issue. He was quoted in the aforementioned article as saying, “Instead of an individual being on the trust, there will be entities represented.
“I am not authorized to speak on behalf of the Trust but on behalf of the Council. We moved from four to 15 members which includes two MPs from Linden, two members from the Mayor and Town Council, three from the Regional Democratic Council, one from the Linden Chamber of Commerce, one from the NDC, one from the Union and one representative from the Religious body, and in fact that one is being looked at carefully, because it would increase after the 15 would have met.
The Prime Minister picked who were in the room including me, but not everybody, because you had to represent an organization. I stood up and argued my way to have a second rep from the M&TC, and I selected my Deputy Mayor being the next in command of the Municipality.”
Councilor Lennox Gasper, the article noted, is peeved over the choice of representatives and claimed that the Mayor did not consult with councilors regarding the issue, even though he had ample time to do so.
But Arrindel was adamant that the Mayor had the right to make such a decision.
“As deputy Mayor and councilor, I have to say that the Mayor has always worked for the benefit of this council and the people of this Town. And I fully endorse what he does in the absence of council, because he is fully competent to do so.”
She noted that at the time that the decision regarding the television issue had to be made in Georgetown, statutory meeting was being held simultaneously at the Town Council in Linden.
Arrindel said that Councillor Jasper had asked her about the issue, and she had told him that she would get back to him on it, as she had no information pertaining to it.
“Again if the Mayor made the decision, it’s for the benefit of this council, and I’m not saying this, because I was chosen for this position.”
She added that she too sits on the communication committee, and has background knowledge in communications.
“But to say that Councillor Gasper was sidelined so that I could be picked, is not true,” she stressed.
Meanwhile, several Lindeners have expressed concern, and openly condemned the “infighting” that is hindering the progress and smooth running of the Linden Mayor and Town Council.
“it is time that people come off the power train- stop thinking about personal aggrandizement and self-entitlement, and start looking to the real interest of the people=I am also calling on those who seem bent on inciting unrest, to desist from doing so, as these things hurt our image as a Town, ‘declared a vocal resident who prefers to remain anonymous.
Other residents meanwhile, are calling on the Office of the Prime Minister to release a statement on the recent meeting with stakeholders concerning the television station and the committee tasked with overseeing same.
Mayor Carwyn Holland was unavailable for comment.
The issue of the Linden television station has been a burning one, ever since former Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon proposed in the August 2012 agreement with the former Government that it be returned to the people of Linden.
The agreement was entered into after the July 2012 bloody protests against the PPP’s proposed electricity hikes for the mining town.
Lindeners had taken to the streets on July 18th 2012, in what should have been five days of protest.
Unfortunately on that very day, three Lindeners were shot dead by police.
This further angered residents-and the protest continued for a month.
Residents were later called off the streets, only after the agreement was signed between the Regional administration and the government.
It included plans for a detailed economic programme for Linden; and that electricity tariffs in Linden remained at the pre-July 2012 rates.
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