Ghanaian officials have revoked the licenses of over 30 radio stations across the country for failing to renew their licenses or pay required charges to keep them operating legally.
In all over 100 stations were sanctioned by Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA) after an audit of the country’s FM operating system. Some of the stations have been fined while others shut down.
Radio stations fined have failed to pay debts owed and not submitted proper documentation and now have 30 days to do so.
The NCA statement issued on Thursday said “Twenty‐one (21) FM broadcasting stations have had their authorizations revoked completely since their authorizations had expired over several years and were operating illegally.”
“They had also failed to apply for renewal 3 months before expiry of existing Authorization and as stipulated in their Authorization. The FM broadcasting stations in question also did not respond to a notice the NCA sent to them to regularise their operations earlier this year,” the statement added.
Ghana has over 300 radio stations operating across the country and in some instances these stations are owed by politicians who use them to propagate their political messages.
Ghana’s parliament has raised concerns about the relaxed regulatory regime for the broadcasting space and urged the NCA to embark on a crackdown.
Source: Africafeeds.com
