Sixteen employees of the Government Information Services Limited have been sent home. The Minister of Public Administration and Communication Maxie Cuffie yesterday confirmed the contracts of the 16 have not been renewed.

Minister Cuffie says the contracts were not renewed because the positions no longer exist. The dismissed workers include those responsible for the preparation and broadcast of daily newscasts on channel four.

Minister Cuffie says the 16 workers have been given their full entitlements. The minister is convinced the employees affected will find employment elsewhere in the media. He says Channel 4 employees were hired to bring out a daily news programme. But this was not done.

He explains that Channel 4 has been feeding off state-run Caribbean New Media Group nightly newscasts through CTV and other broadcasts, rather than come up with its own news.