62 Suspended FM Stations Granted One Month Grace Period

The Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation, Sam George, has given a month grace period to the defaulting FM stations suspended by the National Communications Authority (NCA).

This is in compliance with a directive by President John Dramani Mahama.

“The President has asked that the National Communications Authority Ghana show clemency to the defaulting media houses. We have complied and issued a 30-day grace period.”

He, however, posited that the suspension was not arbitrary as it complied with the law.

“We would apply the law after the grace period,” he stressed.

Earlier on Thursday, the Minister caused the National Communications Authority (NCA) to shut down 62 stations for not holding valid broadcasting Authorisations or Certificates of Compliance.

The affected FM stations include 28 stations operating with expired Authorisations; 14 stations with lapses in their Authorisations setup; 13 stations owing Provisional Authorisation fees; and seven stations yet to fulfil the final requirements for Authorisation.

Among them were two pro-NPP media organisations including Asaase FM and Wontumi FM.

In response to this, President Mahama held that regulatory compliance must align and enhance media freedom and therefore directed the Minister to work with the NCA to determine a reasonable timeframe for their authorization to be regularized.

“The President believes regulatory compliance must take into account the need to uphold and enhance media freedom and that requiring radio stations to shut down while awaiting regularization of their authorization could limit the space for expressing such freedom.”

Source: https://opemsuo.com/author/hajara-fuseini/