Pressure group gives NCA one week ultimatum to reopen Radio Gold and Radio XYZ [VIDEO]

The pressure group, Free Media Vanguards has given the National Communications Authority (NCA) a one-week ultimatum to reopen all radio stations it has closed, on grounds that their licenses have expired.

According to the group, the NCA closed those stations based on political motivations.

The group crowned a street protest today with the presentation of a petition to the NCA and insisted two major pro-opposition stations, Radio Gold and Radio XYZ for instance have deliberately and politically been targeted.

The group presented the petition to the NCA after the street protest which was joined by some Minority Members of Parliament on Tuesday.

Chanting amidst singing, the protesters demanded a U-turn on the part of the NCA and said the government was “stifling media freedoms.”

Two major pro-opposition political party radio stations based in Accra, Radio Gold and Radio XYZ, together with some other private radio stations outside of Accra have been shut down by the NCA on grounds that their authorisations for the frequency they were using have expired without they initiating moves to renew them within the stipulated period.

This, the radio stations have however challenged and insisted they long initiated moves to renew the licenses but the NCA snubbed them.

According to the NCA, the license of Radio Gold, for instance, expired in 2000, while that of Radio XYZ expired in 2016 but they failed to renew them, as required by law.

Officials of the regulator and policemen stormed the premises of the media entities in the afternoon of May 9, 2019 to close them down.

But the Free Media Vanguards have described the NCA’s action as an abuse of its powers and suppression of press freedom.

A Deputy Director of the NCA, Olivia Quartey, who received the petition on behalf of the NCA promised to forward the concerns to the appropriate quarters.

Related stories:

• NCA shuts Radio Gold, XYZ
• Radio Gold reacts to NCA's closure of the station
• GJA says shutting down Radio Gold and Radio XYZ undermines media freedom
• Why NCA shut down 'unauthorized' Radio Gold and XYZ (VIDEO)