The National Media Commission (NMC) says it has no power to ban “money doublers”, whose activities have been on ascendancy recently on television stations in the country.

The NMC says it can neither sanction TV stations that also show pornographic materials because the law does not mandate the Commission to do so.

The Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, petitioned two state institutions – Bank of Ghana (BoG) and National Media Commission (NMC) – about the activities of “money doublers” on television and urged them to take appropriate action.

The Minister in a tweet stated: “I have written to the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and National Media Commission (NMC) to take note of the activities of money doublers on TV and act appropriately to tackle it”.

There were reports that the government intends to ban all broadcasts and advertisements of fetish priests and ‘Mallams’.

But reacting to the issue on Onua TV’s Maakye on Tuesday, the Chairman of the NMC, Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo, explained in Twi that “we can’t do anything to that person or that media house”.

“What the NMC can do is to advise a media person or a media house to retract and apologize to anyone or institution they have offended and we can’t surcharge you,” he said.

“After our investigations, we can also hand you over to your employers to sanction the person. We can also recommend to the employers that the person’s conduct is unacceptable to the profession but we cannot surcharge you.”

Pornography on TV stations

Commenting further on showing of pornography on TV stations, Mr. Ayeboafo noted that if someone shows a naked woman on TV for the purpose of medical education to the general public, that is not an offence.

But it becomes wrong, he says, when a TV station shows such pornographic materials and even then, the NMC can only advice that station to halt it.