Onua TV and FM Drags NMC To Court

In a bid to safeguard their operation as a media network, Onua TV and FM have taken legal action against the National Media Commission (NMC).

The twin media stations are seeking a perpetual injunction against the Commission from the Accra High Court to restrain it from further “harassing” their operations.

In a statement, the subsidiaries of Media General said, “The suit is asking the court to among other things declare that some orders issued by the Commission to Onua TV and Onua FM are unlawful and that the conduct of the NMC in refusing to give the stations an opportunity to be heard before imposing sanctions on them is a breach of the law and of natural justice.”

It comes after the Commission reportedly initiated steps to suspend frequency authorisations of television and radio stations for “persistently dangerous broadcast”.

Background
On November 14, the NMC issued what it characterized as a final caution to the Board of Directors of Onua TV over some utterances of show host Blessed Godsbrain Smart popularly known as Captain Smart.

The caution letter addressed to the Board of the media organization by the General Secretary of the Commission, George Sarpong focused on an “inciteful” broadcast by the host.

It said the utterances were directed at the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) and other Commanders of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).

“Last week, your station carried an inciteful broadcast in which Captain Smart directly insulted the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) and other Commanders of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) as ‘beasts’. He claimed the officers embezzled monies meant for soldiers on peacekeeping operations but offered no evidence to back his claims.”

According to the Commission, the statements by the host were “dangerous” and “unprofessional”.

It thus directed the station to render an unqualified apology to the persons involved as well as the Ghanaian populace by November 19.

“We ask that you put in measures to stop the dangerous behaviour of the station and improve the station’s capacity for regulatory compliance. We also ask the station to withdraw the insults and apologise to the CDS and his commanders. We further ask the station to apologise to the Ghanaian public for the use of vulgar language.”

It appears the media house failed to comply with the directive.