Remembering Radio Eye
In 1994, when residents in Accra woke up one morning to hear a radio station blaring out copious melodious music, but not from the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, we all realised that private broadcasting had been actualised.
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That was how Radio Eye really opened the eyes of Ghanaians to the fact that when in 1977, the Supreme Military Council by SMC Decree 71 and its subsequent Legislative Instrument 1121/1977 established the Ghana Frequency Registration and Control Board, the way was paved for the operation to guide the conduct of private radio broadcast.
It meant that the right to operate private radio was not original to the 1992 Constitution, except that it drew public attention to the possibility of private individuals owning and operating radio, provided they were registered to do so. It thus means that the operators of Radio Eye gave meaning and function to the privatisation of radio.
That is why the 20th anniversary of the founding of Radio Eye (if for operating for only a month it could be described as still-born) is worth celebrating since that act marked a watershed for us all.
Accordingly, as Dr Charles Yves Wereko-Brobby prepares to observe the great epoch with a conference next week, he, as executive chairman, and the other directors of the Independent Media Corporation of Ghana (IMCG) deserve to be celebrated and honoured for their brave pioneering role and the rude awakening of the government to the fact that the citizens were no longer unwilling to exploit a right that could expand the frontiers of democracy beyond imagination.
After 20 years of freeing the airwaves, it is saddening that we still do not have a broadcasting law to regulate what has been described as a landmine of unchartered waters.
In March 1993, the School of Communications Studies of the University of Ghana organised a national conference on the promotion and privatisation of radio and television broadcasting in Ghana.
As part of the proceedings of the conference, Prof. P.A.V. Ansah, then director of the school, emphasised the necessity for democratically defined guidelines and regulations on broadcasting for the country, otherwise a benign technology could be turned into a monster.
He noted that “the economic environment of a liberal, free market, competitive atmosphere and the political climate of a multi-party system and pluralism are both conducive to a nurturing and flourishing of a privatised electronic media system for which we have no established models or traditions on our continent.
A break is about to be made with the past. Luckily, the national constitutions that have been drawn up most recently in African countries make provision for the operation of private radio systems.
How we make the transition from a state monopoly to a pluralistic system without shocks or malaise and without creating problems for national integration, harmony and development is what we have been concerned with.”
Sadly, Prof. Ansah passed away three months after this diagnosis on June 14, 1993.
Prof. Kwame Karikari also noted that “radio, as resource belonging to all, must be secured against abuse and exploitation, which is detrimental to the whole of society. There is thus the need for clearly defined transparent and democratically legislated regulation.”
He argues further that “pluralism in broadcasting poses many and complex challenges. These challenges are not unsurmountable.
For the challenges to be productive goals to overcome, rather than setbacks, the government must be committed to the enterprise; organisations establishing stations must be committed to high professional standards and responsibility; and the laws and regulations defining their operations, while insisting on accountability, responsibility and a measure of public service for national development, must have flexibility to allow for experimentation and particularly in a highly competitive industry.
Conditions must be created and encouragement must be given for a national project with great promise to bring out and harness the best of our diversity for higher achievements.”
It was the lack of transparency and secrecy surrounding the allocation of frequency which compelled Dr Wereko-Brobby to act unilaterally. The IMCG dutifully applied for the use of a frequency but the Frequency Board did not acknowledge receipt.
The IMCG wrote back to the board that if by a certain date they did not get a response to their request, they will broadcast and complained to the National Media Commission. And when the day came, Radio Eye started broadcasting. However, within a month the whole coercive arsenal of state descended upon the station and confiscated its assets. It is a matter of great regret that contradictory rulings of two High Courts, one saying that IMCG acted illegally and the other ordering its assets to be returned have still not been conclusively resolved by the Supreme Court.
The situation has not changed 20 years on as a Graphic Communications Group Limited/Star-Ghana study has underlined opaqueness about how the National Communications Authority grants frequencies for operations of radio and television. Perhaps our governments since 1992 and those in charge of the NCA think like the Tanzanian Minister of State who during a debate in the Taganyika Parliament on February 16, 1961 stated that “a broadcasting system is a very powerful instrument and it can be a very dangerous instrument if those who are responsible for running it happen to hold different views from those of the government and great harm can be done to this country by giving emphasis to the wrong things which need special attention. It is my view that to avoid this powerful instrument being used by people who may not have the interest of the country at heart, this instrument should be taken over by the Ministry of Information Services and run as one of the government departments.”
On the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Radio Eye, we need to celebrate Tarzan Wereko-Brobby and his directors who braved the storm to pioneer private radio against an overwhelming coercive state force.