He said although the collection of TV license fees is in itself laudable, efforts must be focused on how to efficiently collect the fees rather than prosecution.

[contextly_sidebar id=”aOsGqcQ0DTmG3C79gLctMdEizSdeieNY”]The Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, last December, set up a special TV License Court to deal with people who refuse to pay the mandatory license fees.

The eleven courts, which are located in the 10 regions of the country, are expected to fine and or jail persons who fail to pay the fees.

But Mr. Otchere-Darko  in a Facebook post said, “GTV [must] concentrate more on building the infrastructure that can help them to collect [the fees].

“We should not be averse to paying TV license. I think it is an important good and can help GTV serve us and their staff much better. What I disagree with though is having a special court to enforce payment or punish defaulters. Let GTV concentrate more on building the infrastructure that can help them to collect. Ask yourselves, when was the last time you received a demand notice at home or in the office over nonpayment of TV license?,” he said.

Background

GBC officially reintroduced the collection of the TV Licence fees in 2015 after years of putting it on hold due to non-payments.

While domestic TV users are to pay between GH¢36 and GH¢60 for one or more TV sets in the same house every year, TV set repairers and sales outlets are to pay an annual sum of between GHc60 to GHc240.

For commercial TV operators, they are to pay GHc36 per annum for each TV set.

GBC had in the last two years since the re-introduction, appealed to Ghanaians to voluntarily make their payments.

Implications of Special TV license court

Following the setting up of the special court, it is expected that recalcitrant TV owners or operators who previously were adamant about not paying the fee will be prosecuted.

According to  Section 1(a) of the TV licensing Act 1966 (NLCD 89) as amended, “Any person who contravenes any provision of this law or regulation shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year.”

Opposition to payments

Meanwhile, some Ghanaians have kicked against the payments accusing GBC of not providing compelling content to motivate them to pay the fees.

Police to help enforce TV license payment – GBC

The  GBC Director-General had earlier said the Police Service will help in the pursuit of persons who refuse to pay their TV licence fees.

Dr. Annof-Ntow said the police involvement is to help forestall further challenges with the collection of the fees.

“We made a formal appeal not only to the court, but also to the IGP because we anticipated that we were going to hit a snag and some people will deliberately refuse to pay. So from where we sit, I’m delighted at the fact that the Chief Justice has granted our request. What it means therefore is that, this is an encouragement for everybody to go and pay the television licence.”

–

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/ghana

The post Gabby kicks against TV license courts, backs payment appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The ineffective implementation of this law can also be attributed to the ineffectiveness of the programming and content broadcast by the licensing authority which happens also to be the State broadcaster.

The reintroduce the collection of TV License fee, after putting it on hold due to non-payments, has been revived with the Honourable Chief Justice creating Special TV License Courts for the trial of recalcitrant TV owners and dealers who fail to pay the fee. The courts, numbering eleven (11), are located across all the regions of the country and are to sit every Thursday with effect from 4^th January 2018. According to the letter from the Judicial Secretary to the Director-General of the GBC, the setting up of the Special TV License Courts was a request of the Director-General of the state broadcaster to the Honorable Chief Justice. The aim of this piece is not to address the propriety of the License fee but to question the mode of its collection and to suggest that the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in conjunction with the Ghana Standards Authority and not the GBC are the appropriate state agencies for collecting the License Fee.

The TV licensing Act 1966 (NLCD 89).  NLCD 89, in effect, creates three types of Licenses:

1. Domestic License for households or individuals authorizing the use of TV set(s) at the user’s registered residential premises only (Section 1 of NLCD 89);
2. Commercial License, for entities using TV sets in their business/commercial activities or on premises occupied for business purposes including Hotels, Restaurants, Video Theatres and Video Rentals (Section 1 of NLCD 89); and

• Dealers’ License, for businesses selling or hiring TV receiving equipment; and for repairers of television receiving sets (Section 2 of NLCD 89)

Failure to comply with the law comes with punitive consequences. Section 1 (a) of NLCD 89 states that:

any person who contravenes any provision of this law or regulation shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year.

As provided expressly in law but misleadingly communicated by the GBC, the TV License is merely for installing and using or dealing in (a) Television receiving set(s) and not for content or programmes of the state broadcaster. NRCD 89 does not also say in any of its 13 sections that the funds collected from the license would be used to support the State broadcaster.  It is the linking of the collection of the fees to the GBC that has created this seeming confusion in the minds of the broadcaster on the use of the funds from the license and the paying public.

The TV License Fee, by its nature, is a form of tax as it is compulsory, levied by the state and purportedly for public purposes. Since it is a tax, its effectiveness must be measured against the principles of taxation. One of these principles is that the payment of a tax must be convenient. This means that the tax should be levied at the time and the manner which is most convenient for the contributor to pay it. For instance, if the tax on agricultural land is collected in installments after the crop is harvested, it will be very convenient for the agriculturists to pay it. Similarly, property tax, house tax, income tax, etc., etc., should be realized at a time when the taxpayer is expected to receive income. The manner of payment of tax should also be convenient.

AAs noted earlier, NLCD 89 permits the State to appoint other statutory corporations, other than GBC, as the licensing authority. Section 13 of NLCD 89 states:

“licensing authority” means the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation or any other statutory corporation appointed by the National Liberation Council by legislative instrument and any such corporation shall have the functions conferred on the licensing authority under this Decree notwithstanding anything in the enactment under which it exists”

With the restructuring of Ghana Revenue Authority by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Act, 2009 (Act 791) and the enactment of the Revenue Administration Act, 2016 (Act 915) both with the overarching aim to streamline and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of tax administration in the country and considering the improved resourcefulness and facilities of the GRA, GRA is better placed to collect the TV License fee.

Again, collection of the License Fee by the GRA will give clarity to the purpose of the fee that is to raise revenue for the state and not a payment for content or programmes of the state broadcaster. This may disabuse the public of the wrong perception that the License fee is a payment for the services of the GBC and may deal with the excuse, which may be valid, that the content or programmes of the state broadcaster are very unsatisfactory. This will ease the concerns some Ghanaians have with respect to the utilization of the revenue collected.

Furthermore, the amount of the License Fee payable, should not be arbitrarily determined as GBC seeks to do but should be standardized and benchmarked against parameters such as the electricity consumption of the TV set, whether its new or a second-hand and other environmental hazards. The standards for License Fee payable can be rightfully done by the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA). The GSA has authority under Rule 3 of Ghana Standards Board (Food, Drugs and Other Goods) General Labelling Rules, 1992 (LI 1541) in relation to the offer for sale, sell, distribute, import or otherwise dispose of the goods such television sets and refrigerators without the proper labeling. With these labeling requirements in rule, the Standard Authority will be able to set standards and we will have a scientific and more informed basis for fixing the fees payable.

In the short term, Government should, therefore, exercise the power given under Section 13 of NLCD 89, strip GBC as the licensing authority and appoint the GRA as the licensing authority to use standards by the Ghana Standards Authority to license and collect License Fees because this will improve the legitimacy of License and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency in its collection.

In the long term, Government should take steps to revise NLCD 89 to accord with developments in technology and the broadcasting industry in Ghana. GBC is no longer the sole broadcaster and revenue other private broadcasting entities are sharing the space.

–

By: Clement Kojo Akapame & Dennis Abu Martey Esq.

(Lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) Faculty of Law and Private legal practitioner)

The post Why GRA should collect TV licence fees and not GBC [Article] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This follows the setting up of a special TV Licence Court by the Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, to deal with TV licence fee defaulters.

The courts, numbering 11, are located across all the ten regions of the country, and will sit every Thursday beginning sitting on 4th January 2018 from 8:30am to 4:00pm.

[contextly_sidebar id=”4qi06rIyKoTW5tiFTeChhP5XdwuEtPyJ”]The licence, which was intensified in 2015 following years of failure, has been met with opposition from many users.

Some Ghanaians took to social media after the announcement expressing their reservations about the special court.

But speaking to Citi News, Dr. Annof-Ntow said the police involvement is to help forestall further challenges with the collection of the fees.

“We made a formal appeal not only to the court but also to the IGP because we anticipated that we were going to hit a snag and some people will deliberately refuse to pay. So from where we sit I’m delighted at the fact that the Chief Justice has granted our request. What it means therefore is that, this is an encouragement for everybody to go and pay the television licence.”

According to the GBC Director General, the special court should not be seen “as an opportunity to incarcerate people” but instead see it as a clear signal to everybody to make it a point to pay the television licence. The point is that, if you default, then the possibility exist that you will be hauled before the law, but you have the opportunity not to put yourself in that situation,” he added.

Media Foundation

Also sharing his view on the matter, Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Sulemana Braimah, said the move is a test for GBC to prove its mettle or risk having the tax abolished.

“I think that it is just to ensure that the licensing regime is enforced, and once it’s a law, we must see it being applied and once it is applied and GBC is able to mobilize the needed resources, then we would also be looking at how the fees mobilized would impact GBC’s operations. And if at some point we think that despite the resources, we are still seeing the same GBC as we’ve seen now, I believe you will have the recourse to either ask that the law be scrapped or the tax regime be apologized,” he added.

Implications of Special TV licence court

Following the setting up of the special court, it is expected that recalcitrant TV owners or operators who previously were adamant about not paying the fee will be prosecuted.

According to  Section 1(a) of the TV licensing Act 1966 (NLCD 89) as amended, “Any person who contravenes any provision of this law or regulation shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year.”

While domestic TV users are to pay between GH¢36 and GH¢60 for one or more TV sets in the same house every year, TV set repairers and sales outlets are to pay an annual sum of between GHc60 to GHc240.

For commercial TV operators, they are to pay GHc36 per annum for each TV set.

GBC had in the last two years since the re-introduction, appealed to Ghanaians to voluntarily make their payments.

–

By: Godwin A. Allotey & Caleb Kudah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Police to help enforce TV license payment – GBC appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The courts, numbering 11, are located across all the ten regions of the country and are to “sit every Thursday with effect from 4^th January 2018 until otherwise directed,” a letter sighted by citifmonline.com from the Judicial Service and addressed to the Director General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GCB), stated.

The courts will sit from 8:30am to 4:00pm on the said day.

[contextly_sidebar id=”rDFnLvv36dYC5kjneeWh852l04cjrp8R”]Per the letter, the setting up of the special TV licence court was a request from the Director General of the state broadcaster, Kwame Akuffo Anoff-Ntow on November 6, 2017.

“This is to inform you that the Honourable Lady Chief Justice has granted your request for the establishment of Special TV Licence courts as indicated in the attached document.

Background

GBC officially reintroduced the collection of the TV Licence fees in 2015 after years of putting it on hold due to non-payments.

While domestic TV users are to pay between GH¢36 and GH¢60 for one or more TV sets in the same house every year, TV set repairers and sales outlets are to pay an annual sum of between GHc60 to GHc240.

For commercial TV operators, they are to pay GHc36 per annum for each TV set.

GBC had in the last two years since the re-introduction, appealed to Ghanaians to voluntarily make their payments.

Implications of Special TV licence court

Following the setting up of the special court, it is expected that recalcitrant TV owners or operators who previously were adamant about not paying the fee will be prosecuted.

According to  Section 1(a) of the TV licensing Act 1966 (NLCD 89) as amended, “Any person who contravenes any provision of this law or regulation shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year.”

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post CJ sets up special court to prosecute TV licence defaulters appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.