A former presidential staffer under the Mahama administration, Dr Clement Apaak, has called on the National Media Commission (NMC) to speak against the decision by the National Communications Authority (NCA) to close down some radio stations for noncompliance.

According to him, the action of the NCA is an attack on the Freedom and Independence of the media in Ghana. For this, he said the NMC must exercise its powers under the constitution to fight against the closure of the stations.

The NCA has revoked the license of some radio stations and imposed hefty fines on others.

The stations, numbering 131, were said to have violated aspects of the Electronic Communications Act and failed to renew their frequency renewal, and in some instances, their authorisation fees.

The NCA is therefore owed GHS1,223,790,000 by some 76 commercial and community radio stations across the country. To this end, the NCA revoked the license of some stations while others have been fined.

But speaking on TV 3’s New Day programme on Saturday, October 7, Dr Apaak said: “This is when the NMC must come. NMC has the constitutional mandate to ensure the freedom and Independence of the media

“Whether we like or not this action will affect the freedom and independence of the media. If the NMC has not taken note of this then they should.”