The Minister-designate for Communications and Digitisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has defended a decision by the National Communications Authority (NCA) to shut down Radio XYZ and Radio Gold in 2019.

This follows a year-long debate on whether or not the stations were closed down due to their affiliation to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

“Montie FM and Radio Gold were not targeted. If they had not acted in contravention of the law, nobody would have touched them no matter how much you disliked or hated them because they’d have been in compliance with the law,” the Ablekuma West MP told the Appointment Committee during her vetting Monday.

Her explaining sought to address the rambo-style shut down of the stations on Thursday, May 9, 2019.

Officials of the NCA who stormed the premises of the stations with armed security personnel ordered their immediate closure while they were On-Air.

Management was then handed letters detailing the reasons behind the order as while as asking them to re-apply for license if they still wished to operate as Frequency Modulation (FM) radio stations.

A statement issued by the NCA also explained that the Authority was shutting down radio stations operating without valid authorisations.

"Following the FM Spectrum Audit in 2017, some stations were found to be in default and were fined by the Authority. However, some of the stations in default were not satisfied and proceeded to the various courts; Electronic Communications Tribunal (ECT) and the High Court to appeal against the NCA’s decision.

"This resulted in a decision by the ECT in 2018 which reviewed the status of expired FM Radio Broadcasting Authorisations and which ruled among others that Companies whose authorisations had expired reverted to the same position as a fresh applicant. While some stations shut down following this decision, others did not," part of the statement read.

But defending the action, Mrs. Owusu Ekuful who is seeking to retain her former portfolio said the closure of the two stations was not politically motivated.

“It is not possible for me to target any particular radio station for political reasons. It’s not possible for me to target any radio station for special treatment,” she added.

Answering further questions on the state of the deal between NCA and KelniGVG, Mrs. Owusu Ekuful said there are currently no timelines on when the National Communications Authority (NCA) will take over the management of the common platform for traffic and mobile money monitoring currently overseen by KelniGVG.

“The NCA and GRA are ultimately expected to manage the platform for their own regulatory purposes and to assist them to also perform their obligations under the [Communication Service Tax] Act.”

But when it comes to taking over, “The NCA will have to inform me that they are sufficiently capable of undertaking this task and when they do, the process is seamless and is handed over to them,” she explained.