The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa [MFWA], Sulemana Braimah, has blamed the National Media Commission [NMC], for the woes of Director-General of the Ghana Broadcast Corporation, Akuffo Annof-Ntow.
According to him, if the NMC, which has constitutional oversight over GBC had taken sides and stated how the TV license fees should be implemented, the Director-General would not have been asked to proceed on leave with immediate effect.
The governing board of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation [GBC], has asked the Director-General of the Corporation, Dr. Akuffo Annof-Ntow to proceed on leave.
The directive according to the Board Chairman of GBC, Reverend Professor Emmanuel Addo-Obeng, was agreed upon on Monday, January 15, 2018, following his handling of the TV license issues.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, Sulemana Braimah said he was surprised when he heard the Director-General had been relieved of his position by the Board, saying that to the best of his knowledge, the appointing authority which the NMC, is responsible for such actions.
“I was particularly surprised when I heard the news about the DG being asked to proceed on a leave by the board, because the first question I asked myself is that, unlike other institutions where you have the board being the appointing authority, in this particular instance, it is NMC that is the appointing authority, so to what extent can we have the NMC appointing and the board of the corporation which in itself was constituted by the NMC being the one taking the decision to relieve the DG of his post, it is actually a convoluted matter and so far I am yet to hear the NMC position,” he said.
Concerns over the TV license regime followed the Chief Justice’s setting up of special TV license courts across the country to prosecute people who refuse to pay the mandatory TV license fees in line with the TV licensing Act.
Domestic TV users are to pay between GHc36 and GHc60 for one or more TV sets in a household, while TV set repairers and sales outlets are to pay an annual sum of between GHc60 to GHc240.
Following the setting up of the special court, it was expected that defaulting TV owners or operators will be prosecuted per Section 1(a) of the TV licensing Act 1966 (NLCD 89) with defaulters facing a fine or a prison term not exceeding one year.
But a statement from the Board stopped the prosecution even before they occurred.
The board also urged the National Media Commission (NMC) to explore a more sustainable funding module for the GBC.
During the back and forth, the GBC Director angered the public further when he suggested that persons who consumed TV content via smart phones were also going to pay the license fees.
Several pressure groups and civil society organisations kicked against the TV license regime, particularly the threat to use the court to ensure compliance.
In the midst of the arguments however, some individuals thronged GBC Revenue collection points to pay the fees.
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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonlinefm.com/Ghana