By Kemo Cham
Journalists and media rights
campaigners have condemned the closure of a radio station by Liberian
authorities.
The Monrovia-based Voice FM,
considered as critical of the government, was ordered shut down last week
Monday by the Justice Ministry through the Civil Law Court in Monrovia, on the
request of the Liberia Telecommunication Authority (LTA).
The US-based Committee to Protect
Journalists in a statement called on the Liberian government to reverse the
decision.
LTA, which issues radio frequencies
and regulates the media in Liberia, claimed that the station failed to register
correctly.
The Civil Law Court also ordered
owners of the station to appear later this month for a “declaratory judgment.”
Reports added that the sheriffs from
the court also took away some materials belonging to the station when they shut
it down.
Voice FM, which has been in
operation for two years, is accused of failing to register properly as a
commercial station, thereby denying government much needed revenue through
taxes and other fees.
But journalists and campaign groups
believe the move to shut it down was politically motivated.
The station is owned by political
commentator, Henry Costa, co-host of its flagship programme ‘The Henry Costa
Show’.
Costa is based in the US, from where
he presents the programme via the internet. He denied that he owed LTA any
outstanding payment.
Voice FM is also linked to another
station, LIB24 105.1, which is owned by Businessman and opposition politician
Benoni Urey who has expressed interest to run for the presidency. Liberia goes
to the polls next year.
Both stations air ‘The Henry Costa
Show’ which is said to command a huge following, hence the wider interest in
the closure of the station.
“The government is using the
telecommunication authority to silence political criticism,” Kerry Paterson,
CPJ Senior Africa Associate, said in a statement on Thursday.
“This is not acceptable in a
democracy like Liberia. The authorities must allow Voice FM back on air
immediately,” she added.
LTA has however argued that Voice FM
was operating on a frequency that had been allocated to a different radio
station whose license expired in 2014. Henry Benson, Commissioner responsible
for Engineering & Technology, who is currently acting as head of the
Authority, also warned that the LTA intended to shut down all stations
operating without the appropriate registration licenses.
He explained that 102.7 frequency
was legitimately secured in 2012 by Liberia Web Radio, a non-commercial station
which fulfilled all the requirements to operate. He said LTA wasn’t aware of
any transfer of license in this regard.
But many people, especially
journalists, are convinced that the move by the government is politically motivated.
And this suspicion was further fueled by the statement by the LTA official
criticizing radio stations for their constant condemnation of the government.
“People continue to take the
airwaves without any regard; LTA sees that as a clear violation, for which the
LTA was established by law to regulate and will continue to do so…,” Mr Benson
was quoted saying at a press conference in Monrovia.
Woods Nyanton, co-host of the Costa
show, explained that they were in partnership with the Liberia Web Radio, the
official owner of the frequency, and that there were legal documents to prove
that.
“We have been behind the government
to regularize our status but MICAT [Ministry of Information, Culture and
Tourism] has set up a difficult process because we are critical of the
government and the people of Liberia can attest to that,” he said.
Frong Page Africa, arguably
Liberia’s leading daily, published a strongly worded editorial on the issue
criticizing the government’s action.
“This is the oldest trick in the
book used by oppressive governments to go after critical media, one which if
left unchecked has the propensity to have grave impact on the media,” the paper
writes on its online edition last Wednesday.
© Politico 12/07/16
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