The former President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama has said that the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo has set a bad record by allowing the closure of some radio stations who refused to renew their license under his watch.
The former President, Mr. Mahama speaking at the Upper East Region on 17th August 2021 noted that the constitution of Ghana guarantees freedoms, human rights, freedom of association and so many as well as freedom and independence of the media-implying that regardless of this some radio stations were shut down.
“Unfortunately, even when you have the best constitution you can have governments that try to bend it to be able to achieve whatever ends they have in terms of limiting our democratic rights. So today government can say that a radio station has delayed in paying its license fee and so we are shutting you down.
“When I talk about it I talk about it because of the precedence it can set .Because the shoe can be on the other foot the next day, they say the stick that is used to beat Takyi, it is the same stick they will use to beat Baah. So the stations you don’t like you can close them down today, when another government comes and it decides to do the same thing to the stations they don’t like too, what kind of country will we be building?”.
He posited that the Akufo-Addo administration closed down some stations it didn’t like because it now in power.