The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) is calling on Parliament to as a matter of urgency, pass the Broadcasting Bill to sanitize the Ghanaian airwaves.

GJA underscored the importance and role radio plays in peace and conflict resolution and asked that regulations, specifically, the Broadcasting Bill be urgently passed to prevent using radio as a tool for fomenting trouble.

As part of activities to commemorate 2023’s World Radio Day, GJA called on broadcasters to be deliberate in their broadcasts to promote peace rather than violence.

In a presser to commemorate the Day, GJA wrote, “on this occasion, the GJA also wishes to encourage radio broadcasters to be conscious of their obligation towards peace, especially as the 2024 electioneering gathers momentum. The high stakes at the intra-party and inter-party levels of politics, as well as the high-voltage anxiety, tension, and frustration emanating from the country’s current economic challenges, provide good seeds of disorder, chaos, and violence. But under no circumstance must radio provide the fertile ground for the sowing and germination of such destructive seeds. Rather, radio owners, managers and broadcasters must use their platforms for peace-building and conflict prevention.”

The presser added that “the GJA believes one critical step needed to be taken to sanitize the airwaves is the passage of the Broadcasting Bill which has been going in and out of Parliament for many years. We urge the Executive and Legislature to give maximum attention to the bill and get it passed immediately. In fact, the Executive and Parliament cannot absolve themselves of blame as far as the current state of radio broadcasting in Ghana is concerned, and until they work in concert to pass the Broadcasting Bill immediately, they cannot raise any clean hands against the ills of radio broadcasting in Ghana.”

Proclaimed in 2011 by the Member States of UNESCO, and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012 as an International Day, February 13 became World Radio Day (WRD).

This year’s Day is celebrated under the theme “Radio and Peace.”

You can read the full statement here