Police committed to paying TV licence fees

The police administration has indicated its readiness to promptly pay its TV licence fees, and called on all to do so as law demands or face prosecution.

The call came during a registration exercise organised for the police at the national Police Headquarters in Accra, which saw a number of personnel paying their TV licence fees on the request of leadership through the TV licence unit of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC).

According to Head of the Unit, Ebenezer Botwi, the police administration approached the TV licence team stating their readiness to register and pay -- hence the exercise that was organised starting from the Headquarters.

“It is a response from the top hierarchy of the police administration after we issued letters to institutions of our readiness to register people in their respective institutional premises.”

The police have also pledged their support to help enforce the law, and to prosecute those who contravene the TV licence law.

“We will come in when GBC informs us of potentially risky circumstances in the process of collecting fees from individuals.”

The relevant section of the TV Licencing Act, 1996 (NLCD 89) as amended states that “a person who contravenes a provision of this act commits an offence, and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty penalty units or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding one year or to both”.

One penalty point is pegged at GH¢12, which means that a person who is found culpable will pay a penalty of GH¢3,000.

Meanwhile, television users across the country can now register and pay their TV licence fees online with electronic payment cards, via mobile money and through text messaging.

Aside from the online and mobile modes of transaction, payment can also be made at some banks across the country that have partnered with GBC to facilitate efficient collection of TV licence fees. Some Ghana Post offices across the country have also been rolled-out to facilitate payments.

Charges for licences range from GH¢36 yearly per TV set for both domestic and commercial uses. Television set repairers and sellers are also required to pay GH¢60 and GH¢240 respectively each year, and all licences granted under the TV Licence Act 1966 (NLCD 89) are annual licences that expire on the 31st of December in the year they are issued.