It's scandalous Ghana has no broadcast legislation - Prof Kwame Karikari

A lecturer in communications at the University of Ghana, Legon, Professor Kwame Karikari has said it is scandalous that Ghana is without a broadcast legislation.

He blames owners of commercial radio stations, most of who he said belonged to one political group or the other for the current situation.

Prof Karikari was speaking at a roundtable discussion on "Media Ethics and Transparency in Frequency Allocation" in Kumasi, jointly STAR Ghana and the Graphic Communications Group Limited.

The lecturer argued that such owners tend to benefit from the current state of affairs and would not want it to change.

He called for a radical restructuring of the current National Communications Authority (NCA) to embrace the National Media Commission (NMC) which by law is to sanction frequency allocation.

Prof Karikari said the NCA should be consigned to the technicalities while the NMC, which has been mandated by the Constitution to manage the media to deal with the allocation.

He called also for an independent regulatory body in a multi-party form such as parliament to correct the current structure where the NCA is only accountable to the communications minister, a situation he said does not make the body independent.