Relicensing of shutdown stations commendable – Suhuyini

Member of Parliament for Tamale North, Alhassan Suhuyini, has pointed out that the new board of the National Communications Authority (NCA) must be commended for the special interest they took in appraising the circumstances that led to the closure of some 49 radio stations in the country and relicensing those who were shutdown without due cause.

He said the newly constituted NCA board must be praised for considering the matter important to table it as the number one issue on their agenda.

He said the NCA must approach future cases with the same alacrity and progressiveness they have exhibited in relicensing the shutdown stations in the country.

He admonished the resurrected stations to do well to submit themselves to whatever codes and standards the NCA will set out for their operation in the country’s media landscape.

Mr Suhuyini however lampooned the closure of the stations in the first place, saying it was “needless”, it was merely “politically motivated” and a “blot on our democracy, especially at a time when the so called lover of the media and free speech was President of Ghana”.

He however underscored the point that if the relicensing of the shutdown stations was an act of redemption for the wrongful closure of the stations in the first instance, then he considers that progressive and in the right direction.

Mr Suhuyini thus pointed out that he believes that the newly constituted board had other valid considerations to relicense the shutdown radio stations in the country.

He said this in an interview with Johnnie Hughes on the New Day show on TV3, Wednesday, October 13.

The Tamale North MP was reacting on the heels of the relicensing of some 49 radio stations in the country that were allegedly operating illegally in the country and was thus shut down by the National Communication Authority (NCA) in April 21, 2021.

“The earlier decision to close it was based on political considerations, I am happy the new board thinks differently. There is a new board in place and maybe they think differently, they are more progressive and we must commend the new board for the decision. It was actually the first thing the new board considered when they were constituted and set up a committee of the board to examine the petitions that had come to their notice on this matter," he said on the New Day show.