Citi FM has said it is yet to establish whether indeed somebody deliberately jammed the station’s satellite and online streaming systems during a live studio interview on the Citi Breakfast Show with New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo.
Some members of the opposition NPP are accusing government of deliberately jamming the frequencies on Monday October 12 between 10:00am and midday, to sabotage Nana Akufo-Addo’s interview.
According to the CEO of Citi FM, Samuel Atta-Mensah, “It is regular for one to lose their live streaming every now and then; it is regular to lose the satellite transmission every now and then. But to get all channels go off at the same time will be irregular and that is where we have been left rather curious,” he said.
He further revealed on the Citi Prime News that “It’s technically possible for someone to prosecute this agenda but whether I have reason to believe that someone has done this on purpose is difficult to say; because after this experience, we haven’t done any technical survey or audit to make this determination. We still remain very curious as to how it happened more so when our signals were restored immediately after the interview with Nana Addo Dankwa.”
Manhyia South NPP MP, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, is one of those who made the allegations.
[contextly_sidebar id=”Y99JCsqZmjEUfzN9AwCi0v9057krmcmc”]Although he did not directly mention who was responsible for the alleged sabotage, Dr Opoku Prempeh was sure the restricted access to Citi FM’s airwaves during his flagbearer’s interview was calculated to prevent people from listening to Nana Addo’s message.
Speaking on the Citi Prime News Wednesday, Mr. Atta-Mensah clarified the station has no evidence to support the claim.
“We had this experience during our interview with Nana Addo and we did not realize it until sometime during the interview where it was brought to our attention by our online listeners from outside of Ghana. And then later we got word from our partner stations specifically from the northern part of the country that they were not picking our satellite distribution system. The next thing we did was to get back to them to use the Multi TV feed and we were told again that the Multi TV feed had also been cut off. And so this is exactly what happened if you ask whether it’s a regular occurrence.”
Mr. Atta-Mensah, who is also the Vice President of the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), however noted that technically, it was possible for somebody to carry out the act.
“We have not suggested that anybody in particular has done anything and it hasn’t occurred again so for some people who have asked why we haven’t reported to the National Communications Authority (NCA); it hasn’t been a repetitive occurrence. As it stands now, we have not done any investigations. It only prompts us that these things are possible.”
Politicizing the ‘jam’
Mr. Atta-Mensah says he is surprised about the attempt by politicians to politicize the incident; adding it is expected considering the personality of the interviewee.
“You should also understand that because of the personality that we were interviewing; it draws it straight into the political space and that’s why the politicians have jumped on it. So one side say it is sabotage against the other; and the other side says no. So you hear these things because of the personality. Assuming it was somebody else within the entertainment space, I am not sure politicians would have been bothered about it so it’s okay to reason that they would be bothered about it”.
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By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana