Brouhaha over GBC channels

The brouhaha over the conceding of some three channels by the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) to the government was battled out in Parliament yesterday.

In a heated interview, which lasted for almost an hour, the Minister for Communication, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, and a Member of Parliament on the Committee on Communication, Sam Nartey George, took turns to argue out their submissions on the issue.

While the substantive Minister gave the press what she referred to as the facts of the issue, Mr George, on the other hand, questioned the Minister on the legalities of what the Ministry had done.

It would be recalled that a letter dated on June 26, titled “Intentions to reduce number of channels which GBC is operating on the National Digital Terrestrial Television Platform,” surfaced on the internet on Tuesday July 14.

The letter, which had the signature of the Minister of Communication, Madam Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, requested the state broadcaster, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), to reduce the number of channels it was operating on the National Digital Terrestrial Television (DDT) platform, from six to three.

The Minister indicated that the directive was to ensure there was redundancy on the National DTT platform, which is currently at full capacity. It instructed GBC to adhere to the directives within 60 days.

However, Sam George, yesterday, bombarded the Minister with several questions regarding the issue.

Mr George said that the NDC and Ghanaians would, first of all, want to know if the Minister had the authority to issue the communiqué in the first place, since GBC does not fall under her Ministry.

Mr George also sought to know exactly why what the government needed the channels for, when it could do all of its broadcasting and activities on state media.

He also asked if taking over the three channels from the GBC won’t render some of its staff jobless and redundant in a Coronavirus (COVID-19) era, where poverty is staring in the faces of a lot of Ghanaians.

The man, who doubles as the legislator for Ningo-Prampram, after asking these three major questions, gave his own commentaries on what he referred to as the ‘media capture’ that the government wanted to indulge in.

The Ningo-Prampram legislator observed that there had been calculated attempts to try to privatise GBC by the NPP government anytime it comes to power, and said that must not be allowed. He called on all journalists to stand up in solidarity and hold the government accountable, taking into consideration that the media is the Fourth Estate of the Realm, and should not be gagged by anybody or any political party.

Responding to the questions and commentaries one after the other, Madam Ursula-Ekuful indicated that her outfit was the one managing and the overseeing the digital transmission process, and thinks it is incumbent on her Ministry to issue the directive to GBC.

She also said that the spectrum and the frequencies which media houses operate are granted by the National Communication Authority (NCA), while media contents are regulated by the National Media Commission. She noted that while the Minister of Information is the sector Minister for the Media Commission, the Communication Ministry is the sector Ministry for the NCA, so the broadcasting industry is not overseen by one ministry, but a combination of ministries.

“I find it very farfetched to say I don’t have the mandate to notify GBC about a platform that the ministry manages and GBC is hosting their channels on.

“I am fully within my mandate as the one with authority to oversee the digital transmission process, put in place the mechanism for the platform, look for funding for managing the platform, work with the agencies that are delivering the service, and work with the Info Minister whose agencies are hosted on the infrastructure.”

On the issue of what the government need the channels for, Madam Ursula intimated that the space was needed for urgent broadcasting of information to the public by the government and the National Security.

The Minister explained that the sole multiplex, through which broadcasting can be transmitted in the country, is full to capacity. “There is absolutely no redundancy on it, and it’s dangerous for us as a country,” she added.

“If the state has need of broadcasting urgent communication to the public, it does not have any means on doing so. Same applies to National Security.

“So that’s why we are asking GBC and Crystal TV to ensure that they can consolidate their programmes on existing channels, while freeing up capacity for other uses on the single multiplex that Ghana has, until the time that government can increase capacity on the multiplex.

“We have no other means of doing so than this. It is possible for them to operate on three. The Information Ministry has assured us that it is. Crystal and GBC are the only stations which have multiple channels on the DTT platforms, all the others have one.”

On job losses, the Minister said that GBC will still be airing the contents it airs, hence, there was not going to be job losses or redundancies should it consolidate it programmes on three channels.

“It won’t kill the public service broadcaster. All the programmes they will air will still need staff, so it can’t cause job loss.”

Concluding on the issue, Madam Ursula asked the NDC to behave as a responsible opposition party, and desist from throwing out alarmist words and phrases, which are determined to whip up public sentiments.

 

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