The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has denied claims that the shutdown of the two pro-opposition radio stations, Radio XYZ and Radio Gold meant a political vendetta.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Thursday, the Minister said the exercise cuts across all users of electronic spectrum who are operating without the right authorization and not a specifically targeted user.
“I am very sure some persons would speculate that this exercise appears to be an action against the two radio stations that may appear to be unaligned to the current administration. But the brief I have is that, this exercise cuts across various user of spectrums who have been cautioned that they had been operating without authorization for some years now. And this exercise has been going on for a year now,” he said.
He further stated that he is not in the position to know why previous managers of the NCA failed to take action against the stations said to be operating without the necessary authorization.
The two radio stations were shut down on Thursday afternoon.
There was an NDC press conference addressed by the Council of Elders at the party headquarters in Accra being transmitted on Radio XYZ at the time it was shut down.
The Programs Manager for Radio Gold, Richard Agyepong in an interview described the action as “unacceptable,” disagreeing with claims of NCA’s reason for the shutdown.
The NCA in a press statement said: “Radio stations operating without valid authorisations as determined by the 2017 FM Broadcasting Audit are being shut down with immediate effect as an enforcement action in view of the decision of the Electronic Communications Tribunal.”
The NCA’s 2017 audit named Radio XYZ and Radio Gold among the many FM stations that were operating against its regulations.
Radio XYZ’s license was said to have expired on 8th May 2016 and that of Radio Gold on 6th September 2000.
In the report both Radio XYZ and Radio Gold were fined GHs 4,090,000 and GHs 61,330,000 respectively.
Stations to be affected in the clampdown are required to submit a fresh application to get the authorization to be able to operate their FM stations again.
“It should be noted that, as ruled by the ECT, submission of renewal application after the expiry of authorisation is not a valid application and therefore shall not be considered by the Authority. While companies affected by this shut down may submit fresh applications to the Authority if they so wish, these applications shall go through the required procedure for new FM Broadcasting Authorisation and the outcome will be communicated to the applicants.”
