Montie FM and Radio Gold were not targeted - Ursula Owusu justifies

Communication and Digitisation Minister-designate, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has justified that defunct radio stations, Montie FM and Radio Gold were not targeted in their closures back in 2019.

The action occurred in May 2019 when the National Communications Authority (NCA) issued the directive on the basis of their failure to comply with the ruling of Electronic Communications Tribunal (ECT). A move that was met with stiff criticism.

But responding to a question in Parliament during her ministerial vetting on Monday February 15, 2021, the minister-designate, said the two stations would not have been shut down if they had not been in contravention of the law.

“Montie FM and Radio Gold were not targeted. If they had not acted in contravention of the law, nobody would have touched them no matter how much you disliked or hated them because they’ve been in compliance with the law,” Owusu-Ekuful pointed.

The shutdown of the two stations in 2019 was met with some despair by the opposition National Democratic Congress and some civil society organisations such as the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA).

MFWA on its part argued the move was unacceptable for the precincts of a radio station to be invaded with armed security personnel, which could be intimidating to the staff of the station and media freedom in the country.