MFWA-NCA case: Judge absent at first hearing

The hearing of a case between Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and the National Communication Authority which was expected to take place today March 15, 2021, did not happen due to the absence of the presiding Judge.

According to the Court, Justice Gifty Addo was indisposed and this informed the decision to adjourn the case to March 31, 2021.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) held a press conference on September 23, 2020, to reiterate that it will continue the struggle to access information from the National Communication Authority (NCA) on the closure of radio stations in Ghana.

The Foundation filed an access to information request to the NCA under Article 21(1)(f) of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution and under Ghana’s Right to Information Act, 2019, Act 989 requesting among others the full list of all FM radio stations that were shut down by the NCA following the Authority’s 2017 FM spectrum audit and in line with the 2018 decision of the Electronic Communications Tribunal.

But in a response by the NCA, it requested a whopping GH¢2000 “as per Section 82 (1) (b) of the Electronic Communications Act, 2008, Act 775, to enable MFWA to generate the Search Report.”

This did not augur well with MFWA hence their decision to head to court to demand a copy of the list of radio stations that were shut down by the NCA.