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Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley.

Atherley calls for equal time for Opposition voices

THE Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is owned by the people of
Barbados, not by the government of the day, Opposition Leader Bishop
Joseph Atherley made this point in the Lower Chamber yesterday where
he lambasted the current administration for not allowing the voices of
the Opposition to be heard, and made a call for equal time on the
island’s lone State-owned television station.

“All administrations have complained over time. All political parties
have complained over time about the use of CBC and the administration
of the day and the abuse of power with respect to that entity. But I
think we have reached a stage in Barbados where it is the worst I have
ever seen,” he charged.

Bishop Atherley, while stating he would not be supporting the
resolution sought by the government for the approval for the borrowing
of $2 493 271 from Scotiabank Barbados Ltd to repay an existing
overdraft facility held by the CBC, drew reference to a recent
discussion on the performance of the Government after holding the
reins for power for the past two years. He expressed concern that none
of the other political parties were invited to the discussion;
furthermore, his multiple calls to the call-in segment of the
programme went unanswered.

“In 2020 that is bad. With parliament configured as it is , with the
government carrying the mandate which it does, that is not only bad
but it is wrong. I said I would address this in a formal letter
because I want equal time for Opposition voices.

“I say this... the CBC as a broadcast entity is being overused by the
administration currently to its advantage and to the disadvantage of
other opinions in Barbados. And the point I really want to make is
that those who sit in this Chamber as a part of this administration
perhaps need to realise that even they, some of them internally, are
being marginalised from access.”

“There was once a time that I would see on our screens every night on
CBC, four or five or six or seven Ministers. Nowadays I don’t see
that. Some of you are being sidelined. It is not your voice that is
being amplified. So that CBC is being used as a mouthpiece for
marketing and putting out the message of the government. And when I
speak to the message of the government, I am really localising that to
one or two people and some of your are becoming just as excluded as
the rest of us,” he warned.

He further charged that the hour-long news segment is being “eclipsed”
so that the message of the government can go out.

“We are seeing long speeches and addresses on our screens and if they
are not long enough they are then repeated and repeated more than
once.

“CBC is being abused in terms of what it is being forced to do by the
administration and there are certain perils to our practice of
democracy that I am not going to subscribe to, and I encourage those
who have any strength in their knees, any measure of fibre in your
backbones, stand up sometimes and say, ‘No, no, no, we are doing this
the wrong way’.”

Bishop Atherley said that with the configuration of both Houses
currently 40 against 10, the administration should have no fear of
allowing other opinions to be presented.

“In Barbados in 2020 with parliament so configured as it is, with the
government so popular as it thinks it is, and in many people’s minds
as it actually is, what then is the problem?” he queried.
(JH)

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