The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) has written to the National Media Commission(NMC) to solicit its support after a directive from the Communication Minister said it should reduce its six channels to three.
According to the GBC, considering the diverse nature of its broadcast, it will be difficult to adhere to the directive because it may lead to a total shut down.
A letter from the Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Prof. Amin Alhassan said reducing the number of stations “will virtually mean that GBC will have to reduce its operations by half “ which according to the organization, will have “serious budgetary and human resource challenges… and indeed can collapse the Public Service Broadcaster”.
The GBC called on the National Media Commission (NMC) to intervene saying “It is with these implications in mind that the Board of Directors has instructed me to communicate this to the National Media Commission and request your urgent intervention on behalf of GBC”.
The Communications Minister, Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful Ursula in a letter to GBC said they have 60 days to reduce the number of channels to 3.
“If we are going to hand that cost completely to the broadcasting channels at this time when there is a general business slowdown… we will have a problem because, on the basis of the figures I have seen, you will be unable to pay for the cost of hosting the platform,” she explained.
Meanwhile, the Minority in Parliament has backed the GBC describing the move by the Communications Minister as unconstitutional.
