Mustapha Hamid, Minister Of Information
OccupyGhana, a pressure group, has called for the repeal of the law that authorises the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) to collect Television Licence fees from owners and retailers of television sets.
According to the group, the law has become obsolete.
“In a world of digitisation, Ghana should be thinking of laws and policies that look into the future, and seek to create the enabling smart digital environment for prosperity and opportunities for all.”
It said the law expressly rules out the majority of apparatuses, including Smart TVs, phones, pads, tablets, among others, that are currently in use and which are manufactured to receive and process more than just pictures.
OccupyGhana is also livid about the portion of the law which allows the GBC to use 72 percent of the fees collected for its operations, stating that it is unconstitutional and contravenes what the TV Licencing Act proposes.
The reintroduction of the TV Licence fees has generated varying views, with many expressing discontent over the law.
Many people have indicated that they do not watch programmes of Ghana Television (GTV) and see no need to pay any form of licence fees to the national broadcaster.
Special courts have been established to prosecute owners and retailers of television sets, who fail to pay their monthly TV licence fees.
The courts are expected to sit on cases relating to payment of TV licence fees every Thursday from 8:30am to 4pm with effect from January 4, 2018.
This follows a decision by the Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akufo to grant a request by the state broadcaster, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), to establish special courts to prosecute defaulters of the licences.
According to the Act, defaulters could be fined up to GH?3,000 or sentenced to prison for not more than one year.
But OccupyGhana was of the view that a law enacted in 1966 with very little amendment to it cannot be used in 2017 to prosecute defaulters.
“You cannot, in 2017, be seeking to implement laws based on obsolete and currently inapplicable 1966 technology and then seek to punish Ghanaian for not complying with it,” the group said.
“The GBC is a commercial broadcaster and compelling Ghanaians to pay TV Licence fees to it is “grossly unfair and anti-competitive,” the group maintained.
OccupyGhana has advocated a repeal of the current law to be replaced with a new one which reflects modern trends in television broadcasting.
By Gibril Abdul Razak