Give radio frequencies on merit — Sarpong
A Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr Edward Atto Sarpong, has stated that the issuance of frequency modulation to individuals and institutions should be based on merit, instead of influence or contacts.
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“As a country, we have not been fair with ourselves from 1992 to date when we liberalised our airwaves for independent broadcasting because licensing was based on whom you know, rather than whether the individual or organisation really merits the offer,” he said.
Mr Sarpong was speaking yesterday at the ongoing national conference on Broadcasting Pluralism; Press Freedom and Democratic Governance in Ghana being organised by the Ghana Institute for Public Policy Options (GIPPO), with sponsorship from STAR-Ghana, to review developments in the country’s media over the last 20 years.
Media experts, industry operators, regulators, a cross-section of user groups and representatives of the public from across the country are attending the three-day conference, which is on the theme: “Twenty Years after Independent Radio EYE: The Way Forward”.
Broadcasting Law
Mr Sarpong said it was about time “we all agree that as the way forward, we must give out licences for radio frequency on merit as the first measure of cleaning the system”.
On the Broadcasting Bill, he said it had been brought to the ministry for a review, following the amalgamation of the two ministries.
The deputy minister said after going through the document, there was the need to have another stakeholders’ forum early 2015 to hammer on certain grey areas in it before laying it before Parliament in the middle of the year.
He said over the years, there had been challenges in the regulatory regime of broadcasting in Ghana, especially how to regulate local content on television, radio and recently online.
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Mr Sarpong, therefore, stressed the need to have a national discourse on that, as well as balance the freedom and responsibility of the media and who had the capacity to enforce the standards.
He said there was the need to put in an effective Broadcasting Law before crossing over to the digital regime to make the media more competitive.
Airwaves liberalisation
Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, a Minister of Communications in the Kufuor government, said broadcasting was the most practical means for the ordinary person to participate in the democratic process of every nation.
He said the liberalisation of the airwaves had brought some level of awareness of accountability, as citizens were becoming more conscious of issues bordering on democratic governance.
“You cannot give governments so much power, so much money without pressing for accountability,” he said.
He said the proposed Broadcasting Law should be able to address the inconsistencies hampering broadcasting regulations and also harmonise the mandates of the National Media Commission (NMC) and the National Communications Authority for effective cohesion on the media landscape.
Mr Kan-Dapaah urged the government to resource the NMC adequately to enable it to carry out its mandate effectively and efficiently.
A legal practitioner, Mr Akoto Ampaw, who is also a member of the NMC, stressed the need for the review and amendment of all broadcast-related laws to ensure their harmonisation and optimum impact on broadcasting and the lives of the people.
“We need to review all the outstanding aspects of the bill without delay and have it tabled before Parliament and passed into law, definitely before the end of 2015, so that, among other things, we will be assured of a sane and healthy broadcast regulatory framework before the 2016 elections campaign begins in earnest and before the elections themselves,” he said.