RAGGA FANS IN THE STAR

Fans of Ragashanti hold up their placards in front of the BCJ office yesterday during a protest to get him back on air. – Laranzo Dacres

Supporters of Dr Kingsley ‘Ragashanti’ Stewart and his talk show, Ragashanti Live, staged a peaceful protest in front of the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica’s (BCJ) office yesterday.

The loyalists congregated in the vicinity of a central bus stop on Knutsford Boulevard, New Kingston, clad in white T-shirts and jeans, which they said was the planned dress code for the protest. The mostly female protesters were armed with tambourines and placards as they voiced their disapproval of the recent decision made by the BCJ.

“Raga mek people can enjoy dem poverty,” one infuriated protester told THESTAR.

The protest came on the heels of an order issued by the BCJ on Monday to have ‘Ragashanti Live’ removed from Nationwide 90 FM with immediate effect, based on what was said to be numerous public complaints over a two-month period, coupled with 18 breaches of the Broadcasting Diffusion Act that the commission said the radio station had committed.

“From mi hear seh dem a guh tek Raga off a di radio, all now mi nuh eat nuh more food,” said one protester, known as Jennifer Goodas.

Two police vehicles loaded with officers were parked close to the feet of the protesters to ensure that the protest remained orderly.

“Raga stand for the upliftment of poor ghetto people,” was what one of the placards held by an elderly lady read.

“Never in the history of radio has the BCJ requested a host off air, I don’t think it’s in their portfolio. Because if it were so, other radio station personnel have done stuff worst than Raga on air and got suspended and are now back on radio,” Michel Le’ a member of Ragashanti’s radio talk-show team said fervently.

She continued: “And if Raga was doing something wrong then he should have been off radio a long time ago. So, I would say Cordell Green and Hopeton Dunn have not been doing their jobs, so if Raga get booted off radio that mean they should be booted from the BCJ because they were not doing their jobs!”

When THESTAR left, the protest was still ongoing as the protesters beat their tambourines while engaging in chants of “We want Raga!”

THESTAR has also learnt that the protesters are planning on being in the same area at the same time today with much more support as well as on Thursday. On Friday, they also plan to stage an islandwide protest for the reinstating of ‘Ragashanti Live’ on radio.