MERRY CHRISTMAS
HAPPY KWANZAA
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WALDRON DENIES BAPTISTE WAS CENSORED |
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Rising on "A Point of
Order" during a meeting of the House of Representatives last Friday,
Waldron stated that the ruling New National Party (NNP) administration of
Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell knows nothing about the allegations made
by Baptiste. Speaking on the Adjournment, the
Opposition Leader pointed out that the decision to have his contributions
blocked out from the airwaves has been happening "too
frequently". Last month, Voice of Grenada,
which is owned by media magnet Errol Maitland pulled the plug on Baptiste
while he was on his feet addressing Parliament on a number of issues. The radio station stopped
coverage of the proceedings after Dr. Mitchell and several other members
of the government side made contributions under the agenda of
"Ministerial Statements". Most of these statements are
related to activities of the NNP government
who political pundits believe are preparing for upcoming elections. In recent times three of the FM
Stations namely SAC 104.7 FM, VOG 93.3 FM and WEE FM have been engaged in
live coverage of the sitting of the Lower House. Sources told this newspaper that
instructions were given from the government side to the electronic media
to end the coverage whenever the Speaker moves the Motion for the
Adjournment. This is the time used by the
Opposition Leader to attack the government on a number of issues of
national importance. According to Baptiste during his
contribution on the 2001 Budget Debate, he was interrupted 47 times, a
record according to Commonwealth
Parliamentary Proceedings. He said
a similar situation occurred again in 2002 on the Budget Debate
when certain persons tampered with the transmission site of the Grenada
Broadcasting Network (GBN) that caused his contribution not to be heard on
radio. Baptiste, who was recently
elected Deputy Political Leader of the Grenada United Labour Party (GULP),
urged the government to uplift/uphold the state of democracy in the
country. He pointed out that there are
areas where both sides can work together and other times a compromise can
be reached on issues of national concern. The Member of Parliament for St.
Andrew's South-West warned the government against politicising issues of
national concern saying that there are times when "swords will be
drawn" but that they must not kill democracy. Baptiste believes that both
sides must be heard since the issue of democracy should concern both
government and opposition. It was during that time the
junior Health Minister rose and denied government involvement in the
interruption of the coverage of Baptiste's presentations in the Lower
House. Waldron told newly elected
Speaker George Mc. Guire that no signal was given by any one to cut any
broadcast and so the Opposition Leader should desist from making such
statements. Mc. Guire agreed saying that the
media houses that were accused cannot address Parliament to clear the
issue, and so in all fairness, debate
on the matter should not continue. |
Minister
of State in the Ministry of Health Laurina Waldron has denied instructions
were given