Nana Akuoko Sarpong appeals to Communications Minister, NCA to reopen Salt FM

The Omanhene of the Agogo Traditional Area in the Ashanti Region, Nana Akuoko Sarpong, has appealed to the Minister of Communi­cations and Digitalisation, Mrs Ursula Owusu- Ekuful, to direct the National Communication Agency (NCA) to reopen Salt FM 95.9MHZ.

The NCA on February 6, closed down Salt FM 95.9MHz in Agogo due to the FM station’s failure to renew their licence on time.

• Ohene Kwame Frimpong, owner, Salt FM

“It is understood based on the information I received from the management of the station that the licence in question expired on Saturday, December 23, 2023. I therefore plead with your hon­ourable office to be considerate and allow Salt FM 95.9MHz to operate while they take positive steps to renew their licence with­in the shortest possible time,” stated Nana Akuoko Sarpong who is also the President of the Agogo Traditional Council.

This request, he said was necessitated by the current adverse effect being suffered by the people within the over 65 towns and villages who depended heavily on Salt FM 95.9MHz for information.

Salt FM 95.9MHZ over the years has been key in fostering community and national develop­ment dialogues within Agogo and neighbouring communities and the dissemination of information.

After my engagement with the management of Salt FM, they have promised to rectify all infractions and to take positive steps to renew their licence and any other such requirements be­fore the end of the first quarter of 2024 (i.e. before the end of March 2024), the Agogo Oman­hene added.

Meanwhile, NCA has shut down four radio stations at Bawku in the Upper East Region accusing them of contributing to the escalation of the Bawku conflict, leading to loss of lives and property in Bawku and its environs.

A press statement issued in Accra by the NCA and copied the Ghanaian Times named the sta­tions as Bawku FM, Source FM, Zahra FM and Gumah FM.

The closure according to the statement follows the recom­mendations of the Upper East Regional Security Council, and on the advice of the Ministry of National Security.

The operations of the said FM stations and the incendiary utterances of their panellists/pre­senters have contributed to the escalation of the Bawku conflict, leading to loss of lives and prop­erty in Bawku and its environs hence the NCA invoked its pow­ers to shut down the stations, the statement concluded.

 BY TIMES REPORTER