Tema residents lauds closure of 49 TV stations

The Reverend Kwame Banahene, second Minister of Presbyterian Church of Ghana, on Thursday described the move by National Communication Authority (NCA) to close down some 49 Television stations as “timely and long overdue”.

He said the action by the regulator will help bring sanity in the airwaves and must therefore not be misconstrued as a clampdown on media freedom in the country.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Rev. Banahene said, TV station helps reached out to unknown places and change lives positively, but some are using the power of the media through television broadcasting to distort messages for their selfish gains.

According to him, the media is a very powerful tool adding that it has a positive and negative influence, stressing that some of these TV stations advertise lotto numbers and how to get rich quickly, but they do not advise the youth to work.

He added, the youth wants to live exuberant lives because of the advertisement on the TV, “our culture and believe depicts hard work not easy access to money”.

Rev Banahene charged Christians to portray that they are followers of Christ, “Every minister of God will account for every soul that passes through their shadow “our society now praises negativity, we do not check the source of the money but the future of our children are in danger”.

Mr Daniels Dennis, a resident at Tema, Community one told the GNA that the closure of the stations was a good initiative taken by NCA and they shouldn’t end it, “the radio stations, naked movies, alcoholic beverages and stations which don’t portray good morals should be banned”.

Mr Dennis said it is the responsibility of the parent, not the teachers, to instill discipline and monitor their daily activities of their children.

He urged parents to know the character of their children, the things they watch, “if the child is having a telephone, check the people they communicate with, and the people they associate with”.