SUSPEnd direct to reduce GBC channels – Akufo-Addo to Ursula

President Akufo-Addo has directed Communications Minister Ursula Owusu-Ekufful to suspend her directive to the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation to shut down three of its Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) channels.

The directive comes pending further consultations with stakeholders, the Presidency said in a Press release signed by the Director of Communications, Eugene Arhin.

This comes hours after the National Media Commission(NMC) intervention that described the action by the ministry as an attempt to stampede the constitutional mandate of the state broadcaster.

“It is the view of the Commission that any action by any entity which culminates into limiting or depriving the media of the use of public resources legitimately allocated to them undermines their capacity to serve the nation as anticipated by the Constitution.

“The Commission wishes to state clearly that the directive given to GBC and Crystal TV by the Minister for Communications purports to usurp the constitutional mandate and authority of the National Media Commission and same cannot be obliged under our current constitutional dispensation,” the statement signed by NMC chairman Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo said.