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De­fence Min­is­ter Wayne Sturge is dou­bling down on not al­low­ing Ja­maican dance­hall artiste Vy­bz Kar­tel (Adid­ja Palmer) di­rect ac­cess to the na­tion’s im­pres­sion­able youths. How­ev­er, he has agreed the grant him two me­dia in­ter­views.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia at his Tem­ple Court, Port-of-Spain of­fice yes­ter­day, Sturge said the per­mit for Kar­tel will be signed soon af­ter last-minute ad­just­ments are made to it.

The draft or­der, which will be fi­nalised be­fore Kar­tel’s ar­rival, will now al­low two ra­dio in­ter­views dur­ing non-peak hours be­tween 9 am to noon and 1 pm and 3 pm. Sturge said this is to en­sure chil­dren are in school and away from the ra­dios. How­ev­er, an ear­ly morn­ing tele­vi­sion in­ter­view was de­nied and Sturge re­mains adamant that a meet and greet, a vis­it to a school or youth cen­tre, and a cul­tur­al lunch with com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers will not be al­lowed.