NCA entreated to relax sanctions on community-based radio stations
The Chief Executive Officer of Marhaba Media Limited, Alhaji Baba Abdulahi, has entreated the National Communications Authority (NCA) to relax its sanctions on community-based radio stations.
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He said considering the education, information and entertainment being provided by community-based radio stations, the NCA needed to offer them special dispensation.
Event
In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra last Saturday, after a prayer service to mark the sixth anniversary of Marhaba FM, a community-based radio station in Accra, Alhaji Abdulahi said running a radio station required huge financial outlay.
He stated that radio stations, especially the community-based ones, did not attract the needed adverts to sustain their operations.
Besides, the stations pay huge electricity bills, rent, taxes and salaries.
Therefore, Alhaji Abdulahi said it was difficult for most of the stations to honour their obligations to the NCA.
He added that he did not condone deliberate attempts by owners of radio stations to avoid paying their fees to the NCA, but would like the NCA to deal with the radio stations on a case by case basis.
Sanctions
The NCA recently sanctioned 131 radio stations for violating certain aspects of the Electronics Communications Act (2009), Act 775.
Thirty-four radio stations have had their authorisations revoked completely for failing to renew their licences after they expired several years ago.
The sanctions followed a completion of a nationwide FM Spectrum audit conducted this year to determine compliance of authorisation holders and to ascertain which FM stations were in operation or otherwise.
Alhaji Abdulahi said there was the need for the NCA to organise workshops to educate owners of radio on their obligations.
"They should not wait for things to get worse before stepping in to close down radio stations," he said.
Marhaba's contribution
On the achievements of Marhaba FM, Alhaji Abdulahi said the station had raised close to US$70,000 towards the surgeries of eight hole-in-heart patients at the Cardiothoracic Centre at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
Besides, he said, through the political and religious discussions on the radio station, mainly in the Hausa language, election related violence went down greatly in Zongo communities in Accra in the 2016 election.
Alhaji Abdulahi said the radio station would continue offering more educative, informative and entertaining programmes.