Senators clash over ‘NCC TV’

OPPOSITION Senator Roy Augustus hit Minister of Public Administration Dr Lenny Saith for justifying the National Carnival Commission’s (NCC) use of the Channels Four and 16 of the defunct National Broadcasting Network (NBN) to broadcast Carnival shows. The two Senators clashed in the Senate yesterday during debate on a private motion by Opposition MP Robin Montano criticising the Government’s media advertising campaigns for the Police Reform Bills. Sunday Newsday recently reported Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar saying that by broadcasting the NCC was acting outside of its powers as laid down in the National Carnival Commission Act 1991.

Augustus criticised Saith for telling Sunday Newsday that although he did not know if the NCC was legally empowered to broadcast, he could say that people were extremely happy to be able to see their Carnival shows on television. But Augustus was having none of that. He hit: “Are you saying that a ‘wider good’ means that an illegal action is justifiable?!”. Saith replied that he did not know whether the broadcasting was legal or illegal, and that he had never known. “My statement had no conclusion of legality or illegality”. He added that on a personal note, because he was not able to travel to the Queen’s Park Savannah on Sunday, he had enjoyed the Panorama show on television.

Augustus replied that he suspected Saith’s statement to Sunday Newsday was a suggestion that the end-result was a justification for the broadcasting. He said the NCCTV controversy was part of a wider “assault on our minds” by the Government which also included incidents where Prime Minister Patrick Manning said he might lock up his sister Dr Petronella Manning-Alleyne, plus St Vincent Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonzales advocating union with Trinidad and Tobago, which the Opposition knew nothing about. Augustus said he feared a creeping dictatorship and the Government “brainwashing and assaulting the minds of the population into something mallable.” He supported Montano’s motion.