The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) is set to begin the collection of the revised TV license fees today.
The move appears to be in contravention of a suit filed against the company and other parties by the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Dr Charles Wereko-Brobbey.
The other defendants include the Attorney General, the National Media Commission (NMC) and the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA).
[contextly_sidebar id=”ulWPUKmT4D08diJpJMQ5UG9cMdvA8SNm”]Dr. Wereko-Brobbey filed a writ earlier in the week challenging the mandate of the GBC to share the money collected as TV license fees to the other bodies.
He contends that the TV license fees, if collected, were solely for GBC’s benefit and it was not lawful for the other parties to receive any share of it.
The lawyer for Dr. Wereko-Brobbey, Egbert Faibille, had stated that as a result of the suit filed at the court, the GBC would be unable to collect the license fees until the case is heard.
However, the Director-General of the GBC, Major (retired) Albert Don-Chebe said that suit brought against them was not an injunction against the collection of the fees.
He intimated that the collection would go ahead as planned.
“I have read the writ and I can see that the reliefs he is seeking are not in respect of not collecting TV license, he is against the sharing formula. He is making a point that he does not agree with sharing with other organisations like GIBA, NMC and the ministry but he has no objection against the license…” “We think this does not amount to an injunction,” he added.
Egbert Faibille, speaking in response to the GBC Director General’s comments, warned that the Corporation risked being found in contempt of the court if it goes ahead with the collection of the fees.
He however, revealed that he had filed another writ seeking an injunction on the collection of the fees.
By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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