Samson’s Take: Ghana’s media madness – Politicians created it

Sam Nartey George says Ghana's broadcasting landscape is overcrowded, describing the proliferation of radio and television stations as pure madness. He's absolutely right about the problem.

But who created this madness? Who distributed broadcasting frequencies like political souvenirs? And who frustrated attempts to bring sanity to the industry? Politicians without principles.

The NDC and the NPP alike. Check the insane saturation: in 2017, this small country of ours had 471 authorised FM stations. Nigeria, big brother Nigeria, with over 170 million people at the time. Even some said it was about 200 million. Six times more than our population had fewer. They had 361. Kenya had 118. And again, big South Africa had only 59 FM stations. By 2023, Ghana had added nearly 300 more to the 471 stations. We had a staggering 747 FM authorisations.

Today, according to the NCA's June 2026 figures, we have 793 authorised FM stations. Yes, only 571 are operational, though. Add 170 television authorisations, and you have almost a thousand.

That's 963 radio and television stations in a small country of approximately 35 million people. Is this media pluralism or an industry drowning in political patronage, commercial desperation, and professional indiscipline? Media freedom is a constitutional treasure, but multiplying stations does not necessarily multiply quality journalism. I have personally fought this battle.

I was counselled, challenging the reduction of FM transmission coverage from 100 kilometres to 45 kilometres. When Nana Akufo took over, petitions for some sanity to Minister Ursula Owusu-Ekuful and the President went unheeded. The policy created room for more frequency allocations in an already overcrowded, saturated market.

The plain plan was this, very obvious. The NDC had distributed frequencies like confetti to cronies, and the NPP needed to outdo them in the race to the bottom. It is the usual senseless partisan conduct, disguised as national interest.

Politicians, politically exposed persons, and their associates have acquired broadcasting frequencies frequently during their party's reign. Some obtained authorisations without the resources to operate viable stations, treating frequencies as commodities for eventual transfer. Some sold them. The public airwaves became instruments of private political advantage.

You recall the crackdown under Ursula Owusu-Ekuful in 2017? 131 FM stations or authorisation holders were sanctioned. By October 2019, 57 stations had reportedly been closed down. Radio Gold and Radio XYZ became prominent casualties of the enforcement controversy.

And who fiercely challenged those closures? Even the closures included the genuinely defaulting operators who needed correction and sanction. Sam Nartey George. Yes, he challenged that.

Today, he is a minister threatening to shut down politically and religiously affiliated broadcasters. I welcome his recognition of the problem. But where is the consistency? What was objectionable under Ursula cannot suddenly become acceptable under Sam George, simply because political power has changed hands.

Regulation must be lawful, fair, and independent of party interest. Now consider the broadcasting bill. For nearly two decades, Ghana has failed to enact comprehensive broadcasting legislation.

Earlier drafts sought to prohibit political and certain religious ownership, restrict multiple frequencies, and expose beneficial owners. Those restrictions threatened powerful political and commercial interests. And that was central to the prolonged resistance and inaction.

We still haven't passed it. Indeed, the 2024 draft relaxed earlier ownership prohibitions. The politicians expected to legislate against media concentration were themselves beneficiaries of the system.

And now social media has multiplied the problem. That's what it has done. Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and other platforms have opened extraordinary opportunities for free expression and citizen participation.

But alongside the benefits is an epidemic of misinformation. Yes, I mean that. An epidemic of misinformation, fabricated stories, character assassination, hate speech, dangerous health claims.

Some people are doing juju and multiplying money on TV. Kids have had to kill and murder their own because they were misled on these platforms. And deliberate political disinformation is going on.

Reputations are destroyed for clicks. Falsehoods are monetised. Ethnic and religious tensions are inflamed. Public confidence in democratic institutions is undermined. I repeat that. Public confidence in democratic institutions is undermined.

It's become very difficult to rule or to govern a small country like ours. Some political actors finance, encourage, and amplify these abuses only to complain when the same weapons are turned against them. That is political hypocrisy.

Freedom of expression is not freedom from irresponsibility. Neither is it permission to endanger public health, destroy reputations, or poison democratic governance. But the solution cannot be arbitrary closures, censorship, or ministerial control of public discourse.

Pass a constitutionally sound broadcasting bill. Disclose the real owners of stations. Restrict excessive ownership concentration. End speculative frequency trading. Enforce lawful conditions without political discrimination. Empower the independent National Media Commission.

Stop appointing politicians to that place. Strengthen professional accountability and confront online harms through lawful proportionate measures. Sam George has correctly diagnosed a long-standing national problem.

We check it now, or it will destroy this country. Now let him prove that his principles apply equally to NDC and NPP interests because the airwaves belong to Ghanaians, not politicians, party financiers, or even media moguls. Ghana needs more responsible journalism, not merely more broadcasting stations.

Mr GJA President, these are really not jobs, as you complain that people's jobs are at stake. How much are they paid at these stations, these mushrooming FM stations? How much are the people paid? You see why it is so easy for them to be turned into political tools: more truth, not more noise.

More public service, not political propaganda. The politicians helped create this mess. Let them now demonstrate the courage and principles to clean it up, beginning with their own interests, and that is my take.