Free Media play an integral role in fostering democracy and development and have the ability to transform a number of critical areas, including government accountability, empowerment of women and minorities and education.
Radio is inexpensive, available to citizens at all levels of the Ghanaian society, including the illiterate, and due to its pervasiveness, is well placed to reach out and give voice to marginalized groups. Under the regime of President Akufo-Addo, who assumed office in January 2017, some media houses have traditionally exercised heavy self-censorship to avoid the harassment that hits those who step out of line. There has been an outcry in the country about the way hoodlums stormed some radio stations accompanied by armed police officers who destroyed and took away equipment of these broadcasting stations.
We are witnessing a grave and unprecedented interference in the media by the executive and shutting down of Radio Gold, Radio XYZ and other radio stations show how brazen the government has become in its attack on media freedom. President Akufo-Addo says he wants to combat corruption and improve our governance system, but that cannot happen if our laws are not respected. This kind of arbitrary attitude runs totally counter to the rule of law. He has attacked media freedom ever since taking office in January 2017. Some radio stations critical of the regime were shut down in a space of a few months. Journalists are no longer free to criticize the President and his associates. If they do, retaliation is swift. Another major challenge is the threat of the unknown, maiming and killings. Journalists self censor out of fear and many believe they are under physical and digital government surveillance. Because of this new trend the public is not properly informed and the country’s real stories are not being told.
Radio Gold became or is a voice or everyone so was/is Radio XYZ, a sort of ombudsman where people could go to talk about their problems. Problems with this government’s officials started escalating as these radio stations became bolder and as more information-hungry Ghanaians started turning in.
The constitution of Ghana in Article 162(3) states that “There shall be no impediment to the establishment of private press or Media; and in particular, there shall be no law requiring any person to obtain a licence as a prerequisite to the establishment or operation of a newspaper, journal or other media for mass communication or information”. The sitting President, Nana Akufo-Addo and Akoto Ampaw argued their case in court in the Radio Eye versus the Republic based on this core constitutional provision. Dr Brobbey, who owned Radio Eye openly condemned the action against the radio stations and described the action of the National Communication Authority (NCA) against the stations as an affront to the 1992 constitution. Other level headed giants in the Media industry have also condemned government’s action. According to the management of Radio XYZ, several requests were made to have their license regularised by the NCA, but did not receive any response from the Authority and attempts to meet the Director-General of NCA, Mr Joe Anokye yielded no results. According to their management, between July 2017 and 2018 December, they sent two bankers drafts through GT Bank with an amount of Ghc 11,165 on each occasion to the NCA requesting to renew their license per the orders of the ECT.
The management of Radio Gold quickly reacted to NCA’s action –
“In view of the closure of Radio Gold by officials of the National Communications Authority (NCA) in the company of armed policemen on Thursday, 9th May 2019, the management of Network Broadcasting Company Ltd, operators of the station wishes to respond as follows:
a) That at all material times, Radio Gold has been in touch with the NCA through our lawyers on the matter in issue.
b) That we have made numerous attempts to submit the required documentation to the NCA for the purposes of renewing the frequency authorisation, which documentation was inexplicably rejected by the NCA.
c) That the unexplained rejection of our documentation by the NCA considerably stalled the renewal process, our best efforts notwithstanding.
d) That we had hoped that any action of the sort undertaken by the NCA on Thursday would have been preceded with prior and adequate notification.
e) That it is regrettable that Radio Gold was shut down by the NCA at a time the station was providing intermittent live coverage of the press conference by the Council of Elders of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at its headquarters.
f) That the closure of Radio Gold is high-handed and runs contrary to the spirit of engagement that has existed between the NCA and the station.
g) That the above notwithstanding, our legal representatives will continue to engage the NCA with the view to resolving the matter in issue to ensure a quick resumption of our normal programming.”
The Communication Minister has made her intentions clear. She is not ready to sit down with the management of the two stations to resolve the matter. Hundreds have become jobless because of this reckless action. Many of of our renowned journalists started their exploits with Radio Gold. All these persons have gone quiet on the issue. Some of the High Volumed journalists defending the current administration are Radio Gold made journalists. How many of these journalists discuss this unfortunate issue on their platforms? Since its establishment, the station has served all political parties in the country. Where is Paul Adom Otchere, Sefa Kaye, Omanhene and others. journalists and Media houses continue to be threatened and attacked with impunity by government operatives and organized crime groups, party activists and bodyguards of some pastors who describe themselves as President’s Pastors. A journalist was killed, others were severely beaten by some security operatives. No arrest were made and the motive unknown. The time to open the two stations is now. The Communication Minister’s selfish desires and her administration’s hidden agenda shouldn’t deny millions of Ghanaians their right to listen to their favourite radio stations. All diplomatic efforts to the harassment have failed. It is time to make our position clearer on this particular issue.
