The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has entreated state authority to refrain from the illegally taking down some channels from the state broadcaster, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC).
MFWA stated at least six reasons to question the legitimacy and propriety, “as well as the logic and prudence, of the directive”.
MFWA indicated that it was “alarmed” by the directive of the Minister of Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, to GBC to scrap three of its channels on the Digital Terrestrial Television (DDT) Platform.
The company currently operates, GBC News (GTV Governance and GBC 24 merged), Obonu TV, GTV Life, GTV, GTV Sports Plus, and Ghana Learning TV.
The MFWA has entreated Mrs Owusu-Ekuful to withdraw the directive immediately, failure for which the President should revoke the ministry directive.
They have also called on the National Media Commission (NMC) to assert its constitutional responsibility of insulating the state broadcaster from governmental interference and control.
“The NMC should urgently intervene to prevent the Board and GBC from complying with the illegal and inimical instruction from the Minister of Communications”.
The MFWA argues that the directive undermines relevant constitutional and regulatory provisions on institutional governance and operational independence of the state broadcaster and media pluralism generally.
Guided by the lessons of history, the 1992 Constitution and other enabling pieces of legislation have sought to raise guardrails around the state media, in particular, it said.
“These legal provisions are meant to stave off interferences in the management and editorial discretion of the state media,” MFWA stated.
The provision is also designed to enable the state media to offer fair voice and visibility to all segments of the national population, including minority groups and interests.
MFWA was of the view that Ghana is also a signatory to a number of regional charters and conventions – the relevant ones of which include the African Charter on Broadcasting adopted in Windhoek in 2001, and the Joint Declaration on Media Independence and Diversity in the Digital age, adopted in Accra in 2018 – which seek a shared vision for independent and inclusive media systems.
“Not only is this attempt by the Minister of Communication to sequester three of the TV channels of the state broadcaster an expression of ministerial overreach; it also unfairly reduces the public service broadcaster’s footprint within the current 40-channels platform,” the MFWA pointed out.
MFWA observed that based on the minister’s directive the reasons for requiring GBC to relinquish the three channels “is to ensure that there is redundancy on the National DTT platform which is currently at full capacity.”
“This begs the question; because up until as recently as April 2020, new private TV channels were being added onto the DTT platform. Why did channels continue to be allocated? And as they were being added didn’t the managers of DTT platform know about the purported need for redundancy on the platform? Who are the owners of the recently operationalised channels? ” the MFWA questioned.
The organization further underscored the importance of GBC to the operations of the DDT platform hosted on more than half of the sites of the state broadcaster across the country.
“Incidentally, the platform relies on GBC, which the recently revised DDT Broadcasting Policy acknowledges as “the national broadcaster and the TV station with the widest coverage in the country” to enable the drive towards universal access.
“This reliance of the DTT platform on GBC is also reflected in the commitment of GBC resources into building of the platform. Out of the 42 sites that currently host the DTT platform, 38 of them are GBC sites.
“Indeed, it can be argued that GBC is currently the enabler of the DTT platform.
“Besides if these GBC-owned sites were to be rented out commercially, the state broadcaster will be earning in excess of $7million a year. What this means is that GBC is a major contributor rather than a liability on the platform,” the MFWA maintained.
According to the Minister of Communications, the directive for GBC to relinquish the three channels on the DTT platform is also because neither “the State” nor “the National Security” has any means “of broadcasting urgent communication” to the public.
For the MFWA, thus reason is “untenable, given the clear policy and practice of GBC since its original incorporation under the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation Instrument, 1965 (LI 472) and subsequent legislative transformations to the current GBC Decree, 1968 (NLCD 226) – and amendments thereof”.
MFWA pointed out that the minister’s explanation is especially counterintuitive at this time when the President has relied on the channels of GTV for delivering his periodic updates on Ghana’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, the six GBC television channels are dedicated 24-hour operations, each with a different orientation, and contributing, collectively, to the diverse but inclusive character of GTV as a state/public broadcaster.
“Therefore, the directive by the minister if complied with may constitute implicit interference in, or influence of, GTV’s programming decisions and editorial discretion; contrary to Articles 162 and 163 of the Constitution. So, the minister’s director is not just about channels; it is about content,” the MFWA stressed.
MFWA said a further reason to doubt that the directive addressed to the Director-General of GBC is an isolated and prudent act of good faith is the following:
-The blueprint for the implementation of the DTT migration proposes the setting up of a supposedly independent, but executive-controlled entity – the Central Digital Transmission Company Limited (CDTCL) – to manage the DTT platform in the interest of transparency and fairness. Why has the ministry through the minister become the sole managers of the DTT platform?
-The direct instruction to GBC also completely disregards the oversight role of the National Media Commission (NMC) as spelt out in Articles 167 – 173 of the Constitution.
-The relevant Articles of the Constitution require the NMC to oversee the operations of the state broadcaster and to insulate it from governmental control and interference of the nature being exercised by the Communications Minister,” it said.
-As part of that mandate, the NMC appoints the Board, and by extension, the Director-General, of GBC. The NMC is an independent body and not an appendage of any Ministry. So why will the minister disregard the NMC in issuing instructions to the GBC? Why was the NMC not even copied in the letter?
-The NMC, with the full awareness of government, announced the inauguration of a committee on January 27, 2020, to assess and make recommendations for reforming GBC to become a vibrant and viable Public Service Broadcaster. The committee is chaired by the experienced and highly regarded Elizabeth Ohene. Why is the minister seeming to pre-empt the outcome of the committee’s work?
-All of these factors lend credence to concerns about an incipient scheme to systematically delegitimise the public service ethos of GBC, to undermine its capacity to access the requisite operational resources, and to provide the alibi for divesting its assets into the waiting hands of crony capitalists and political patrons.
