The government nominated Milena Abrantes onto the Board of Directors of Council Administration of RTTL, EP. However, the development of RTTL, EP did not happen and she has to face court over a few cases.

Due to the above issue, the Seventh Constitutional Government appointed Gil Da Costa to lead a re-structuring of RTTL, EP but unfortunately the new Secretary of State for Social Communication (SECOMS) did not support this. SECOMS established an auditing team which was led by Francisco da Silva Gary. This team gave a report to SECOMS and finally fired Mr Gil da Costa as the President of RTTL, EP.

Francisco da Silva Gary who led the auditing team was then nominated as the new President of RTTL, EP with hope of change. But lately Mr Gary has been facing lots of accusations of nepotism and not fallowing the RTTL, EP regulations.

Some evidence has indicated nepotism by the recruiting adviser without thorough and proper procedures and without knowledge of Board members. As Mr Gary has recognized, this adviser was not recruited but appointed only.

Even though people are expecting change, the reality is the opposite of the Secretary of State’s plan as he still using the old structure from Milena Abrantes’ leadership which used a General Coordinator for all directorates which is not mentioned in the Decree Law number 42.

Another problem is that the stablishment of a new Directorate is not mentioned in RTTL, EP law as in article 16 (Direcções Ezecutiva) Executive Directorate no 19 which stated that there are only four directorates: Directorate for Program, Information , Administration and Finances and Technical support.

The President of the Board of Directors created another Marketing directorate which is not in the decree law and has not been decided by the Board members.

With these concerns and accusations, a journalist from Tempo Timor conducted an exclusive interview with the President of RTTL, Mr Francisco da Silva for clarification at his office in Caicoli on Friday (9/05).

JTT: Mr President, since you were appointed as President what you have done to make changes in RTTL, EP?

FG: My task here is to look at the internal Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of all directorates. We also cooperate with our colleaugues on how to help them understand the SOP to facilitate their work.

Secondly we would like to give an opportunity to our colleagues for leadership experience for six months and this is temporary only. After six months we will prepare for a definitive Director for all directorates. This is to ensure the competency of the President of Council Administration and to assure the functioning of RTTL, EP.

With this change we will guarantee that all information about the state, government and parliament will be heard by our communities.

We are also looking at the logistical side. As you know many RTTL vehicles are broken and since I arrived I found these vehicles are listed for auction and have been used for more than 5 years. However when I asked about this, I was told only a few cars can be fixed and used.  We’ve finally fixed 2 or 3.

We are now changing from analog to digital about which SECOMS has signed an agreement with the Chinese Government. In RTTL we also must prepare and accelerate our work when the technical team arrives from China to install Radio and Television equipment  in Fatu Ahi as well as Kutulau.

We are also now opening a tender to the public and also renovating our warehouses in Caicoli, in Fatu Ahi, including generators in case the power is off during emission.

JTT: Mr President, have you made changes, including to existing directorates at RTTL?

GF: Currently we have four directorates: Directorate for Information and news, Program, Administration and Finance and Technical Support.

Recently we have discussed about a definitive Director but we need to create the conditions for him or her. Also we need to prepare to implement digitalization and that needs lots of work.  We need also look at the Marketing team since it is the one that provides income for RTTL. About the new Marketing Directrate we have different ideas among Board members. At the previous Board meeting therefore we cancelled and then postponed it until 2020 since we don’t have a budget allocation for it.

JTT: Mr President, you said there were different ideas among Board members when you tried to create another directorate, especially Marketing, so what is the mechanism for making decisions in RTTL?  .

FG: The highest decisions are made by the Board meeting so when the majority say no, we cannot execute it.

JTT: How can you prevent failure when Board members disagree with creating a new directorate?

FG: I think different ideas at a Board meeting is good so we try our best to make sure all members agree with our proposals.

JTT: On what basis did you make those decisions that the Board members rejected in the end?

FG: As I explained there are demands for us to create the right conditions so we can expand our work, especially by creating a new directorate for Marketing to sell our products. Then we will have our own income so in the future we are not dependent on the state budget and we can sustain ourselves.

JTT: Mr President, few Board members are saying that you made decisions first before you called for a meeting and that they came just to listen to you.

FG: I think they have the right to speak out and they also raised this issue in the meeting. As President, I need to consider and balance what they’re concerned about; therefore I cancelled the new directorate I had created.

JTT: Few board members are saying that there is no budget allocation in the general budget for 2019 for the new directorate.

FG: Yes, we have the same idea but if you look at the current structure the (General Directors) decision was only coming from the Board meeting and is not mentioned in our regulation. 

JTT: How much RTTL income would you expect to have?

FG: We expect USD 300,000 in 2020, and this just supports our basic necessities in RTTL.

JTT: Is that true that you contracted Ms Rita Alves and that Board members disagreed with you?

FG:  Yes. Board members disagreed with creating this position and it s not based on a salary scale; therefore we created a new title and her salary will come directly from my Cabinet.

JTT: Board members are also saying that you made your own decision without discussing with them.

FG: As you know the Board meeting is only once a month. To achive our goals we have to find a professional person to work in the area we need and then it is important to inform Board members.

JTT: So this is through a recruitment process or is she a political appointee?

FG: She has not gone through a normal recruitment process but is a political appointee. 

JTT: Mr President, I have seen the contract and I feel it is a very technical term and I don’t understand Portuguese but the local labor code number 7 says that “second party shall be in the premises of the first counter in Dili or another place in the Portuguese territory” and we are not in Portugal.

FG: Thanks for the correction and we had an internal discussion on this subject and we have revised it including the title of the person who will work here with us.