Guinea Bissau is now in information chaos after the government shut down 79 radio stations due to failure to renew licenses by the deadline.
The Ministry of Social Communication announced in a press statement on April 7, 2022 that a 72-hour deadline given by the Minister, Fernando Mendonça for 88 radio station to regularise their broadcast license status, elapsed on April 6, 2022.
According to the government, “of the total of 88 radio stations notified, to date only nine license holders have appeared at the Ministry for the due processes, a situation considered by the Ministry of Social Communication as non-compliance with the guidelines imposed by the State of Guinea-Bissau.”
The authorities have now ordered the closures of the 79 radio stations which did not comply. This applies to all radio stations, including those that are national, regional, or community-based.
The mass closures come on top of recent setbacks that have created a crisis in Guinea Bissau’s access to information. Workers at the national radio station and television stations are currently on strike. It is important that we also note that nine stations of the targeted 88 that met the license renewal deadline were mostly religious channels, which offer little content that addresses real socio-political issues and development issues. Radio Capital FM, Bissau’s most active radio station, has been offline for the past month due to a group in military uniforms attacking it on February 7. The radio sector has thus been effectively decimated and the country’s airwaves reduced to almost total silence.
“While we recognise the need for the government to enforce the applicable law on broadcasting, we are concerned that the primary need to uphold the right of citizens to access information is being carelessly sacrificed. We, therefore, call on the government to reverse the closure and engage the affected stations in dialogue,” said Muheeb Saeed, Senior Programme Officer for Freedom of Expression at the MFWA.
Radio is the main means of communication for the majority of Bissau Guineans to access information about important national issues such as education, health, and agriculture. Many broadcast in national languages, encouraging inclusion and national cohesion.
Diamantino Domingos Lopes, secretary general of the journalists union – SINJOTEC said the media fraternity has been shocked by the decision. He told the MFWA’s programme officer in Guinea Bissau that the Union had scheduled a meeting with the Minister of Social Communication, Fernando Mendonça, on April 8, to resolve the licensing issue.
Lopes lamented that “freedom of information in Guinea-Bissau is being threatened and the closure of the radio stations means that we are going backwards. We need to find a peaceful solution, through diplomatic means, to find a consensus that sustains the sector.”
A radio broadcast license renewal in Guinea Bissau costs around 450 US dollars. This is a large sum in a media sector that is facing many difficult challenges including financial, technical and capacity problems. Many stations cannot pay full salaries for their employees for months.
However, the Minister of Social Communication insists that it is the responsibility of radio stations to restore normalcy. He has ruled out suspension of the order until radio stations affected make an effort to respond. In a telephone chat with the MFWA, Fernando Mendonça said it is not a question of extending the deadline, but rather of the stations fulfilling their obligations. We are open to listening once they approach us. However, we will not tolerate any willful defiance or disregard of authority.
Mendonça said the Ministry issued an earlier 72-hour ultimatum on February 10, 2022 which the media organisations ignored. “We cannot allow pirate radio stations to operate in Guinea Bissau,” he said, while rejecting any suggestion that the action is a crackdown on critical media outlets.
While we appreciate the Bissau Guinean government’s effort to ensure compliance with regulatory codes, we still urge the authorities to be conciliatory in view of the damaging effect of the mass closures on citizens’ right to information and considering recent troubles in the country’s media space. We urge the managers of affected media organizations to contact authorities to find a solution to allow them to resume broadcasting as soon as possible.
Source: mfwa.org
