Parliament to summon GBC and information Minister over TV license fees

Member of Parliamentary Select Committee on Communications, Hon. Samuel George Nartey has hinted that Parliament will summon Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and the Minister of Information before the House to give an explanation on the television license fee.

He said the move by government to prosecute TV license defaulters is not clear because not anybody who owns a television set watches Ghana Television (GTV) programmes which are telecasted by the GBC.

Chief Justice, Her Lordship Sophia Akuffo has set up a special court to prosecute individuals who default on the payment of their TV License fee. This follows a request made to the judiciary by Ghana Broadcasting Corporation Director-General, Dr. Kwame Akuffo Anoff-Ntow in November this year.

The courts, which will be in all the ten regions, will start sitting on January 4, 2018, to prosecute defaulters.

But speaking to otecfmghana.com on Tuesday, January 2, 2018, the Ningo Prampram lawmaker said they will raise the matter on the floor of Parliament when they convene on the 23rd of January 2018 and make sure the information Minister and the GBC are brought before the House for further explanation, especially when it involves prosecution.

“We will discuss the matter when Parliament reconvenes on 23rd of January 2018, raise these issues again with my chairman Hon. Ken Ohene Agyapong and Ranking Member Hon. Alhassan Fuseini Bashir and summon GBC and Minister of information to the House to sit and have a look at this matter again, especially situation where you want to start prosecuting the people,” he stated.

“I can assure you the implementation of this will be very difficult else they should make it pay per view because I personally, the questions is how many do I watch GBC or GTV perhaps I have multi-TV and DSTV and I pay my monthly subscription which GTV is on both channels so why should I go and watch regular GTV again. In that case, we should make it pay per view there is a technology that can make it pay per view” Hon. Sam George stated.

Hon. Samuel George Nartey described the move as a needless and lazy way to raise funds to support GBC, saying there are serious issues confronting GBC which need to be tackled to ensure a smooth running of the state-owned institution.