Atherley blanks bill to shore up CBC on ‘philosophical grounds’

The House of Assembly’s move to borrow $2.4 million to make up for a shortfall in the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) overdraft ran into opposition from Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley who said he could not support the resolution on what he termed “simple but important reasons, some of which are philosophical”.

First, he questioned why the Government was seeking $2.4 million given the Auditor General’s 2019 report that it could not find more than that amount in would-be revenue.

He said: “CBC issued a disclaimer of opinion as auditors could not confirm or verify accounts receivable of $2.8 million for up to March 31, 2019, and apart from this, there is also a matter of $700,000 of missing inventory according to the same report.”

Atherley, who established the People’s Party for Democracy and Development (PdP) a year ago after crossing the floor from Barbados Labour Party within a week of the 2018 General Elections, also queried reports he had heard from overseas sources stating that the corporation had allegedly not paid for television and other programmes it had bought from overseas suppliers.

On the corporation’s staff levels, Atherley said: “Two years ago, we were told CBC had too many people on staff. How many people were laid off or eliminated at that time, and how many more have come on board since then and what services were they contracted for. Barbadians want to know whether Government will continue to borrow money to address the financial gaps at CBC, and if the operations are in such a state, all other things being equal, it should not continue to be subsidised by Government.”

His other concern related to what he saw as an “imbalance” in terms of highlighting opposition political organisations on the state-owned broadcaster’s radio and television stations.

Atherley said: “Two weeks ago, we had a television show called The People’s Business which gave a two-year review of the Government’s performance, and three of the panellists were either sitting or former members of the Government, and the fourth person was also in favour of the current administration.

“Where were the voices of the Democratic Labour Party, the United Progressive Party or Solutions Barbados? I understand why the PdP was left out, but what does the administration have to fear by allowing other opinions to be promoted?”

Atherley said he had tried to call into the television show about five times but claimed his calls were blocked and that when he called the station the next day to voice his opinion of the show, he was told: “’We feel the same way you do and we wanted a better balance, but that decision went right up the line.’”

He continued: “Those who are in their right minds should see that CBC is being overused by this administration to its advantage, and to marginalise other parties. Our democracy is at stake here, and we need men and women who are strong enough to stand up for what is right in this society.”

Leader of Government Business in the House of Assembly Santia Bradshaw  countered Atherley’s arguments by declaring: “The CBC has not censored anyone or stopped people from advertising or sharing their personal views. If you disagree with what Government is doing, you should offer proposals and solutions through your own organisation as opposed to criticising for the sake of doing so.

“We have made attempts to work on restructuring CBC; for example, last December we brought a bill to Parliament regarding a new hierarchical structure for the organisation, but to suggest there has been some wrongdoing and we are going after CBC’s staff is unwarranted. The way I see it, if the Opposition Leader wants to get his messages out, he can use social media and other means to do so as opposed to relying solely on CBC.”