Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says the Broadcasting Bill is not before Parliament yet because portions of it are currently under review.
According to him, despite the general perception that the Bill has been hindered for political reasons, his outfit was working around the clock to address all the concerns raised about the bill.
“The reason for which it has been a delay in laying in before Parliament is not for want of political will.
“I think we’ve demonstrated enough when it comes to laws to do with free expression etc, we’ve already committed RTI (Right to Information Act) and its implementation,” he said on January 17, 2023.
The Information Minister explained that the bill initially did not cover all aspects of broadcasting but has evolved to include digital media and other forms of new media to meet the current times.
“For example, the last drafts define broadcasting only to refer to television and I think this was presented in the report. Today we have all kinds of technology-led broadcasting,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said they have effectively resolved about 80% of the initial concerns raised and were actively working on the remaining concerns.
“A lady just wrote to us yesterday raising some more issues that we need to respond to and we are hoping the stakeholders will tie it up and take it before parliament,” he said.
Meanwhile, he did not give timelines on when the bill will be presented before the House, however, he said the ministry was working on gathering the input of key stakeholders.
In 2023 the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) pushed for Parliament to pass the Broadcasting Bill.
GJA, in a statement released on February 13, 2023, indicated that the passage of the Bill is one critical step that needs to be taken to sanitize the airwaves.
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