The Minister-designate for Communications Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has been exposed for deliberately deceiving Parliament’s Appointments Committee that the closure of pro-NDC radio stations, Radio Gold, Montie and XYZ, was not politically motivated.
She claimed the stations were closed down because they failed to renew their operating licenses, yet, Oman FM, the radio station owned by Kennedy Agyapong, the ruling NPP’s MP for Assin Central, has been operating illegally since 2011, but somehow conveniently slipped through the net of the communications minister.
Per the law, operation authorization should be renewed every five years, but Ken Agyapong’s Oman FM last renewed its authorization in 2006, 15 years ago.
The revelation comes from the Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah. Mr. Braimah backed his revelation with a screenshot of records from the National Communications Authority (NCA) which confirms that the pro-NPP radio station has been operating illegally for 15 years.
Mr. Braimah weighed in on the talking point after Kennedy Agyapong had accused the NDC MP for Asawase, Hon. Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, of lying in response to Muntaka’s observation of the preferential treatment given Oman FM before the Appointments Committee.
The Assin Central MP also demanded an apology from Muntaka over the observation.
… Well, if anything Hon. Agyapong should be directing his request for apology to the NCA whose record indicated clearly that his station had not renewed its authorization. Below is a screenshot from the NCA’s own data on list of Authorized VHF-FM Radio stations in Ghana as at Fourth Quarter 2019,” Mr. Braimah countered.
This data was published after the NCA had shut down several radio stations for failing to renew their authorization. By law, Frequency, Authorization renewal is required every 5 years. The NCA record shows Oman FM got its authorization in 2006. There is a column for the last date of renewal of authorization. What is in that column? Blank.
In the NCA document, Oman FM is captured as having first been authorized to operate on December 6, 2006, with the column for the date of its last renewal left blank, indicating it never renewed its authorization.
The evidence from the NCA thus shows that Oman FM has been operating illegally since 2011 when it ought to have renewed its authorization but did not.
After she had closed them down, Ursula Owusu had defied everybody, including Parliament’s Select Committee on Communications which had tried to mediate for the stations to be allowed to renew their licenses.
However, earlier this week, when she appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament for vetting as re-nominated Minister for Communications, she claimed that the closure of the stations was not in her power and that the NCA was the one which had taken an independent decision to close down the radio stations.
Source: Whatsup News
