Closure of Radio Gold, XYZ ‘purely political’ – Mahama

Former President John Mahama believes the decision to shut down two main pro-opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) radio stations in Accra last week was politically motivated.

He made the remark on the back of the closure of two pro-opposition radio stations; Radio Gold and Radio XYZ, by the National Communications Authority (NCA) for not having proper authorisation.

Speaking at the Saïd Business School seminar in the UK Oxford University, Mahama was emphatic that the NCA’s decision need not a special sense of discernment to see its political underpinnings.

“There are more than 300 radio stations in Ghana. Why those two, definitely there were political reasons behind the closure of those stations and so it is unfortunate,” he said.

According to him, if proper measures had been put in place concerning the shut down, the several criticisms by observers like the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), “would not have happened.”

“The role of a regulator is to build, not to destroy. So if they haven’t renewed their licenses, it is your duty to remind them you haven’t renewed your licenses and eventually you must even give them notices and give them a deadline.” he indicated.

Meanwhile Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has advised that tact and diplomacy be used to address the issue rather reducing it to political banter.

Responding to a question by Media General’s Kwakye Afreh-Nuamah at his residence during a visit by families of Ghana’s AFRC 1979 shootings, President Kufuor warned politicization of the matter will not help.

According to him, he wish aggrieved parties and the authorities engaged in “behind the scenes negotiations”

“Was the closure done on some law? If the closure was done on some law, then we have to be careful so we do not push politics too deeply into this matter”, he disclosed.