Ursula Owusu Ekuful
The National Communications Authority (NCA) has announced a general amnesty for all radio stations that were sanctioned for violating various aspects of the Electronics Communications Act 2009 (Act 775).
Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, who announced this at the 22nd edition of the Ghana Journalists’ Association (GJA) Awards in Accra yesterday, said, “Whether your station was revoked or you were fined…all the fines have been reduced to one year instead of the various lengths for which those refractions were supposed to …”
She said in some cases the fines had been reduced from over 60 million to a little under four million.
Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful said the decision was arrived at after the authorities decided to put a human face to the enforcement of the laws regarding the violation of the Electronics Communication Act.
She pointed out, “Although government must be strict in the application of the law, sometimes we must put a human face to law enforcement … For those who persisted, your efforts have paid off.”
The sector minister said although the radio stations had been pardoned, there are some conditions they must fulfill.
For instance, she said the affected stations have until 15th of January, 2018 to pay those reduced fines in addition to the regulatory fees that are outstanding and they must provide documentation as well as other procedures they have to go through in addition to the fines.
Compliance
She indicated that over 90 percent of the affected stations had sought to comply with the various infractions that they were charged with.
“The good news is that several other categories of users of the NCA’s regulatory clauses have also sought compliance voluntarily and so the purpose has been achieved in terms of creating awareness about the need to comply with our laws,” she noted
The minister underscored, “We believe that the reduced fines are sufficiently primitive enough to make a point … So please pay up or we shut you down.”
It would be recalled that a few months ago, the (NCA) sanctioned a total of 131 FM Authorization Holders for violating various aspects of the Electronics Communications Act.
A further 13 FM Authorization Holders were issued with reprieves as pertain to their authorizations.
The NCA had also revoked completely the authorizations of 21 FM stations which authorizations had expired over several years and were operating illegally.
The airwaves regulator’s action followed a nationwide FM Spectrum Audit conducted this year to determine compliance of Authorizations Holders with their Authorizations conditions and to determine which FM stations were in operations or otherwise.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri
Pix saved in newdaily as FM
Caption: Ursula Owusu-Ekuful