You Can’t Reduce GBC’s Channels – NMC to Ursula

The National Media Commission (NMC) says the Communication Minister’s directive to the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation to shut down three of its Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) channels undermines the broadcaster’s capacity to play its constitutional role.

Communications Minister Ursula Owusu-Ekufful has asked the state-broadcaster to shut down three of its DTT channels in order to free up space on the platform.

The directive has been met with stiff opposition from management of the GBC who have petitioned the NMC for their intervention.

The Minister has however justified her decision.

Reacting to the development, the NMC in a statement said the directive by the minister has no place in the current constitutional dispensation.

“It is the view of the Commission that any action by any entity which culminates into limiting or depriving the media of the use of public resources legitimately allocated to them undermines their capacity to serve the nation as anticipated by the Constitution.

“The Commission wishes to state clearly that the directive given to GBC and Crystal TV by the Minister for Communications purports to usurp the constitutional mandate and authority of the National Media Commission and same cannot be obliged under our current constitutional dispensation,” the statement signed by NMC chairman Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo said.

It added: “To put our concerns on the DTT in context, we wish to state that the National Media Commission has always held and articulated the foregoing view since the process of migration started a little over a decade ago. In the intense partisanship of public policy debate in Ghana, we feel obliged to reiterate that this is not only a matter of fact, but also that of principle.

“The National Media Commission assures the general public that it is highly aware and alert to the huge responsibility it bears as the shepherds against any form of encroachment by individuals, politicians and state agencies on the freedom and independence of the media, and we shall continue to perform our constitutionally-mandated guardian role with high sense of dedication, alertness and patriotism.”