By William
Yaw Owusu
Wednesday
January 17 , 2018
The Director General of Ghana Broadcasting
Corporation (GBC), Dr Akuffo Annoff-Ntow, has been asked to proceed on leave
with immediate effect.
Various media sources quoted the GBC Board Chairman,
Rev Prof. Emmanuel Addo-Obeng, as saying Dr. Anoff-Ntow is being asked to
proceed on leave because of his poor handling of the television licence fee issue.
Prof. Addo-Obeng said the decision was taken on
Monday and said the regulator - National Media Commission (NMC) - had been officially
notified about the decision.
He said “the duration for the leave will depend on
consultation with the NMC.”
The Board Chairman said on Radio Ghana operated by GBC, “We are going to immediately engage
NMC to discuss a whole lot of issues affecting GBC and the future of the state
broadcaster,”
Rev Prof. Addo-Obeng further explained that one
board member and two directors of GBC are supposed to steer the affairs of the
corporation until the issues are ironed out.
“We have put an interim management committee in
place with a board member and two directors of GBC to hold the fort while this
consultation goes on,” he disclosed.
The divisional union chairman of GBC, Michael
Allotey, called for calm among the GBC staff, saying, “As a union, we need to
engage our people, urging them to remain calm because it is a board decision
but we will meet properly to tell the world our position. I also take this
opportunity to urge workers to remain calm.”
He added, “Except that sometimes it is challenging
because the question is after DG, what next? GBC has a problem and it has to be
solved. I think it is time the nation decides what to do with the national
broadcaster. It is either they keep it as a private entity or we continue to
keep on the focus as a national broadcaster.”
The request by Dr. Anoff-Ntow to the office of the Chief
Justice to set up courts that will prosecute defaulters of TV licence, which
was eventually approved, sparked outrage in the country.
In the ensuing heat, the GBC director general kept
shifting his position over what TV users were supposed to do.
Per Section 1(a) of the TV licensing Act 1966 (NLCD
89), defaulters were expected to be prosecuted and when found guilty, were
supposed to pay a fine or an imprisonment term not exceeding one year; but the
GBC board moved swiftly to stop the prosecution aspect under the Act.
The board urged the National Media Commission to
explore a more sustainable funding module for state broadcaster.
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