The President of the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG), Mr Alex Nartey, has asked the National Communications Authority (NCA) to consider an “interest-based approach” formula to deal with the 131 media houses whose licences have been revoked for not complying with the laws.
According to him, the NCA “must ensure the media houses are restored to their operations through an interest-based approach by waving part of whatever percentage that is possible and the rest paid over a period of time.”
The NCA has sanctioned 131 FM Authorisation Holders found to have committed various infractions pertaining to their authorisations to operate as contained in Section 13 of the Electronics Communications Act, 2009 (Act 775).
But in an interview with the DAILY HERITAGE in Accra yesterday, Mr Nartey, who doubles as a negotiator and Alternative Dispute Resolutions practitioner in conflicts situations in the judicial service, said in every conflict situation, “you look at the interest-based approach in dealing with it.”
He said “the media houses are the platforms for free speech, which underpins democracy and so we need them. This decision will affect the media houses negatively, so we have to look at it in an interest-based manner.”
Asked if their call would not open the floodgates for other media houses to ‘misbehave’, Mr Nartey said “it will not open the floodgates,” if the NCA doubled its efforts and also carry out inspection exercises every year to deter others.
Punish NCA officials
The dispute negotiator, while condemning the media houses for failing to comply with the rules, called for the NCA to be reprimanded for sitting down for 17 years before going after defaulted media houses.
“The question we all must ask NCA is why the long delay. I think we must reprimand the officials of NCA for sitting down all these years before taking action,” he suggested.
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