Governance crisis in Mongolia negatively affecting development of Public Service Broadcaster.
The new Mongolian law of Mongolia on Public Radio & Television has not been implemented properly, says Globe International. Although the law passed through parliament on July 1, 2005 the appointment of the general director has not been confirmed because of an internal dispute among members of the National Council (NC).
Mongolian media has been covering the issue intensively.
On November 26, 2005, Ulaanbaatar’s Bayangol district court overturned the NC’s Order 15 appointed Mr. S. Myagmar PRTV general director by a majority vote. Four NC members claiming “the candidate had not submitted all the required documents ” and submitted an appeal to the court.
They also publicly claimed that S.Myagmar was dishonest and could not be trusted to adminsitrate PRTV affairs as they said he had not obeyed a court decision on a debt he is claimed to owe to Mongolian Radio and TV (MRTV) for the last six years.
Myagmar told the media that he denied the debt claim and claimed the office as general director, making nominations for the posts of deputy director and general accountant.
However the NC minority told a Decemcer 19 press conference that the previous general director of the MRTV was still in office and accused the NC Chairman of having wrongfully handing over the PRTV seal to Myagmar.
After this, Myagmar resigned the putative position.
NC members continue to argue about the directorial appointment with accusations of political influence and affilation.
Mrs. H.Naranjargal, President of Globe International NGO which had been activitely advocating the passage of PSB legislation said: “ Globe International is carefully monitoring the process of implementation. We have repeatly said that the entire procces of formation of the NC and appointment of the GD must be transparent. However, only 9 members of the present NC were selected from candidates proposed by NGO Assembly as required by the law”.
“Secondly, the criteria for selection of the GD did not include any consideration of conflict of interest. If the NC included such consideration, the problem would not arise ”.
MRTV staff deeply concerned about the future of PRTV and it’s financial sustainability. have set up a Collective Board, which stated “The first step towards independence must not be influenced by any political forces. We believe that the NC should not be a barrier to this historic reform".
On January 5 2006, Collective Board was restructured and renamed a pro tem committee with 15 members, obtained the right to attend the NC meetings as an observer.
Time flies while the NC debates and the collective is suspicious that the property of MRTV owned by the state, is being misused.
Globe International calls on NC members to resolve all the problems urgently with respect for the law and the publics right to know.
Globe International believes that any NC decision should be in the public interest, respecting democratic principles. Democratic and statutory principles, ethics and fairness in NC operations are vital in changing the existing situation. Comittment by NC members to establishing a truely public broadcasting service in Mongolia and to their public responsibilities should be the main concerns rather than any political interests.