Progressive People's Party (PPP) Director of Operations, Nana Ofori Owusu has lambasted the Ghana Independent Broadcasting Association (GIBA) for failing to represent the interest of media stations in the country.
Speaking on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo, Nana Ofori Owusu noted that most media stations don’t make enough gains to be able to foot the fines imposed on them by the National Communications Authority (NCA); eventhough it has been reviewed upwards.
To him, there should be a policy which is friendly to the media. He therefore called on GIBA to execute their mandate effectively.
“What do they do? The dues people pay and so forth to these people, what are they doing? What are they saying? What is the real impact on the system? How are they engaging the Ministry on behalf of the stations? Because if stations go to NCA and the Ministry individually, you’ll be bullied and you’ll be told whatever”, he said.
According to him, GIBA should wake up and fight for the rights of the stations.
Diagnosing some challenges of the media, Nana Ofori Owusu noted that the affected radio stations will find it difficult to pay the fines because the economy doesn’t promote businesses.
He told host Nana Yaw Kesseh that the stations have been left at the “mercy of a bad economy” and “if the economy is robust and moving, and businesses are thriving; business will advertise more” but “if businesses are not advertising, the radio stations and the rest; they will lose revenue… This is a basic economic principle. This is (an admittance) a reflection of a very rough economic situation that we all know we’re in now”.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Communications and the NCA have relieved FM Broadcasting Stations which were sanctioned for committing various infractions.
The Ministry has slashed the fines for the sanctioned commercial FM Broadcasting stations by 50 percent and the stations have been given additional 30 days to pay the fines.
“Defaulting Commercial FM Broadcasting Stations that were fined by the NCA have also had their fines reduced by 50%. They have 30 days from 20th October, 2017, to pay the 50% reduced penalties or have their authorizations revoked,” a statement from the Ministry of Communications said, adding that “it is the expectation of the Ministry and the Authority that all defaulting FM stations will take advantage of this opportunity and ensure compliance within the shortest possible time”.
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