“Octopus Gabby” and President’s Daughter Gets Radio Station -As Gov’t clamps down on others

Whatsup News has gathered that Asaase Radio, a new radio station reported to have been set up with a huge investment capital is owned by President Akufo Addo’s daughter, Gyankroma Akufo Addo and Cousin Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko.

The radio station has already started test transmission and is scheduled to be fully launched on June 16, 2020. The station has already recruited veteran broadcaster and former BBC presenter, Kwaku Sakyi-Addo the host for “Sunday Night”, one of the flagship shows that will herald the station’s emergence onto the Ghanaians media landscape.

Interestingly, the station will be transmitting on the 99.5 MHZ frequency-extremely close to the spectrum of Multimedia’s flagship station, Joy FM which transmits on 99.5 MHZ.

It is unclear why the National Communications Authority (NCA) will curiously allocate the radio frequency so close to multimedia which the government’s communicators and agents have often criticised for its supposed hard-line stance which has often been at odds with the government.

Curiously, Kwaku Sakyi Addo is currently the Board Chairman of the NCA, and his role in the radio station linked directly to the Flagstaff House is being regarded by critics as a possible conflict of interest or abuse of power.

Incidentally, while the Asaase Radio which will clearly be pro-government is getting frequency allocation by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, the government has indefinitely shut down three major radio stations which as linked to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The stations: Radio Gold, Montie FM and Radio XYZ have remained shut down following the NCA claiming they refused to renew their license. The stations have however disputed the NCA’s allegations, saying they have made attempts to settle their obligations but the NCA and the Communications Ministry led by Ursula Owusu-Ekuful have deliberately frustrated the effort.

During the World Press Freedom Day a month ago, former President John Dramani Mahama chided the Akufo Addo administration for dictatorship for shutting down media platforms perceived to be opposed to the government’s ideologies.

Urging Ghanaians to resist the dictatorial tendencies of the Akufo Addo administration, ex-President Mahama said the decision to close down the radio stations associated with his NDC party was a typical example of an attempt to gag journalists from executing their roles in society.

Two radio stations, Radio Gold and Radio XYZ which were purported to be affiliated to the opposition National Democratic Congress were shut down in May 2019, on grounds of illegal operations.

Meanwhile, Asaase radio is reportedly frantically poaching top radio presenters from across the country, particularly from the Multimedia Group, which has seen an unprecedented wave of resignations in the past week.