A Seven Member Panel of the Supreme Court presided over by the Chief Justice, Kwesi Anin Yeboah dismissed the case in which the Ghana independent Broadcasters Association, GIBA has dragged the National Communications Authority, NCA and Attorney General to court. The unanimous decision of the court said the applicant did not properly invoke the original jurisdiction of the Apex court .
GIBA earlier this year sued NCA and the AG’s Department over the NCA’s decision to introduce conditional access to free-to air TV broadcast as a breach of the right to free press enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.
In a writ filed, GIBA demanded a number of reliefs including that the Conditional Access (CA) System introduced as a mandatory requirement by the NCA by which the media content free-to-air broadcasters are blocked by government unless certain criteria have been met, constitute an unnecessary restraint on the establishment and operation of private media as enshrined.
It also sought a declaration that the blockage of media contents of Free-to-air broadcasters through the use of the conditional Access System introduced by the NCA is unconstitutional as same constitutes an unreasonable and unnecessary abridgement of the freedom of the media contained in article 21 (a) and 162 clause 1 of the 1992 constitution.
The ministry of communication through its agency NCA, since 2019 has been attempting to implement dramatic changes to the television broadcast sector with the introduction of system of control, which GIBA frowns upon due to its ability to lock down the liberalized airwaves and send the nation back to the dark days of monopolized and controlled media.
For some time now, GIBA and the Ministry of Communication have disagreed over the introduction of the Conditional Access System even after the Ghana Standards Authority has made it clear that, by the Standards, CAS cannot be said to be mandatory for free-to-air receivers. Lawyer of NCA Garry Nimako explained why the Supreme Court threw away the case.
