The National Communications Authtority (NCA) has been ordered by an Accra High Court to provide the list of all FM radio stations indicating name of company, name of radio station, location, and frequency number that it had shutdown to the Media Foundation for West Africa.
This followed the Authority’s 2017 FM spectrum audit.
The court in its decision also asked Media Foundation to pay an amount of 1,500 cedis before the information is provided.
The court presided over by Gifty Agyei-Addo, admitted Parliament has not approved any statutory fee for information but the MFWA should pay a fee of 1,500 cedis for the information it ordered the NCA to furnish it.
On July 22, 2020, the MFWA, through its Executive Director, Sulemana Braimah, submitted an access to information request to the NCA, in exercise of rights guaranteed under Article 21(1)(f) of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution and under Ghana’s Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989).
The MFWA had requested from the NCA the full list of all FM radio stations (indicating name of company, name of radio station, location, and frequency number) that it had shut down following the Authority’s 2017 FM spectrum audit which, according to the NCA, was in line with the 2018 decision of the Electronic Communications Tribunal.
The MFWA had also requested for the full list of all authorised FM stations as of the second quarter of 2020, with indications of the dates of first authorisation, dates of last authorisation renewals, locations, and operational status of the radio stations – that is whether they are on air or off-air.
The MFWA further wanted to know reasons why the NCA made changes to exclude certain information from its published 2020 second-quarter report titled: “List of Authorised VHF-FM Radio Stations in Ghana as at Second Quarter 2020,” compared with other similar reports previously issued by the Authority.
The court stated four requests and out of that granted three with the exception of request three which states that MFWA wanted to know reasons why the NCA made changes to exclude certain information from its published 2020 second-quarter report titled: “List of Authorised VHF-FM Radio Stations in Ghana as at Second Quarter 2020,” compared with other similar reports previously issued by the Authority.
The court in its reason for not granting the request, said MFWA is seeking an opinion which to the court is not a request for information.
Programmes Manager for Freedom of Speech at the Media Foundation for West Africa, Muhee Saeed expressed mixed feelings over the judgment.
According to him, even though the court granted most of the request, he is of the opinion the main reason the NCA was dragged to court was the request for them to pay 2,000 cedis for the information they demanded, which he thinks is a mechanism to deny them iss due them which is to the interest of the public.
The applicant is sought among other things “A declaration that the decision and demand by Respondent contained in its letters dated July 29, 2020 and August 20, 2020 complained about are unlawful, unreasonable, unfair, and in violation of Applicant’s constitutional and fundamental right to access information.”
The MFWA also asked for “a declaration that the amount of GHC 2,000 demanded by Respondent from the Applicant in order to generate the information constitutes constructive denial, refusal, failure or neglect, and breach of Applicant’s right to information under Article 21(1) (f) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.”
It asked for “a declaration that the amount demanded is not only unlawful but unconscionably exorbitant in breach of the letter and spirit of Act 989 and Applicant’s fundamental rights to information.”
The applicant sought “a declaration that the information requested by the Applicant is not subjected to a charge/fee; or in the alternative,
It asked for “a declaration that if Applicant were liable to a charge/fee, same ought to be an ascertainable amount to cover the 8 information requested.
Portions of text culled from 3news.com
