Chief Justice, GBC meet over special court for TV licence defaulters

Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, is considering establishing a specialized court to handle cases involving TV license defaulters.

She made the announcement when the management of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) paid a courtesy call on her at her office in Accra Thursday.

The move by GBC is in connection with the next phase of the TV license project, which now includes the prosecution of people who fail to pay their TV licence.

The Chief Justice provided an option to GBC management, saying the Judicial Service has the Saturday Court, which deals with specialized cases including domestic violence, juvenile cases and financial claims,

She said since GBC is nationwide, the Judicial Service will liaise with other courts in other regions to see if the circuit courts will be available to fast-track prosecution of TV license offenders.

“The Saturday court will require extra fee to pay the Judges since it doesn’t fall within the working days of the Judges and I will speak to the Judges to seek their advice on the issue if it is possible for the establishment of the court”, she added.

She again said GBC should educate and inform the public on the need and importance to pay TV license in order to boost the operations of the state broadcaster.

On his part, The Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Dr. Kwame Akuffo Anoff-Ntow said if the new court is established, it would help GBC to make claims from their debtors on time and they would be summoned before the court to pay their debts. They would make arrangements to settle the claims or find a good mechanism to negotiate with their debtors for peaceful settlements.

Following the submission of a proposal for the review of the TV licence fees to Parliament, the fees were reviewed upwards.

Domestic TV users with one set will pay GH¢36 for a licence annually, instead of the old fee of Gp30.

The new TV Licence fee has been categorised into three. The first category is the domestic use, which is GH¢36 per TV and GH¢60 for two or more TV sets in the same house. For TV set repairers and outlets, which form the second category, they will be paying GH¢60, while TV dealers will be paying GH¢120.

The Television Licensing Act – 1966 (NLCD 89) which established the licence fees and was amended in 1991 under the PNDC Law states that, “Except as otherwise prescribed, a person shall not install or use a television receiving set unless there is in existence in relation to that set a valid television receiving set licence granted by the licensing authority under this Act”.