Vibe FM in trouble

The management of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) is considering an appeal by government to return transmission equipment of a private radio station, Vibe FM in Ghana’s capital, Accra.

Court bailiffs and officials of SSNIT on Thursday, seized the station’s equipment including computers and other assets after it failed to honour an agreement to pay its outstanding rent of 506 million Cedis. The radio station occupies one of the nine floors of SSNIT’s Trust Towers office block located at Asylum Down in Accra.

Deputy Government Spokesperson, Kwabena Agyapong, told Joy FM that while government appreciates efforts by SSNIT to recover monies owed it, there is the need for circumspection, especially, in relation to media institutions.

A source at SSNIT however told JOYFM that the Trust did not take the decision on its own volition but on the orders of a court. The court is therefore the only authority that can nullify the order. The source however noted that the Board of Directors of SSNIT are meeting over the issue and a definite decision will soon be made on the matter.