Very
well. Hon Members, we would move on
to the next Statement, which is in the
name of the Hon Member for Offinso
South, Dr Isaac Yaw Opoku. It is on the
National Chocolate Day. Hon Member,
you may read your Statement now.
Is Dr Isaac Yaw Opoku in the
Chamber? [Pause] Very well, is the Hon
Member for South Dayi, Mr Rockson-
Nelson Dafeamekpor, ready to read his
Statements
Statement? Hon Member, you may
proceed.
World Radio Day
Mr Rockson-Nelson E. K.
Dafeamekpor (NDC — South Dayi): Mr Speaker, tonnes of gratitude to you
for the opportunity to make this very
important Statement regarding the
celebration of World Radio Day, which
fell yesterday, 13th February, 2023.
Mr Speaker, some 126 years ago, in
1897, the first radio broadcast was made
by an Italian named Guglielmo Marconi
in an invention that was to change the
world's view on communication. Since its invention and popularity over the
years, radio has remained an important
and relevant companion to humanity
even to today.
Mr Speaker, on 13th May, 2022, the
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC),
gave a historic account of how radio
communication was founded. The BBC
journalist, Jonathan Holmes, detailed,
for instance, how Marconi came to a
place in London called Weston-Super-
Mare looking to experiment with what he
called "telegraphy without wires". That
has since come to be known as radio. He
was initially interested in contacting
ships, but his work led to a
communication revolution.
Mr Speaker, the publication of
Holmes on the BBC website contained
accounts which indicated that in 1896,
Marconi came to the UK to conduct his
experiments after trying and failing to
get interest from officials in Italy. His
assistant, George Kemp, who was a
Cardiff citizen at the time, suggested that
the Bristol Channel would be the perfect
place to test it out.
Mr Speaker, on the 11th and 12th of
May in 1896, the experiment was carried
out to transmit on Flat Holm, an island
halfway across the Channel. He began
sending messages out into the airwaves,
but unfortunately, this initial experiment
failed.
Mr Speaker, on 13th May, 1896, the
experiment however succeeded with
significant progress. The instruments
rang and he sent out this initial phrase,
"can you hear me?". This message was
immediately received. The historic
account has it that Breann Down Fort,
which was just south of Weston-Super-
Mare, became the stage where he set up
his base. They went out to send messages
about 10 miles further down which at the
time, became a record of transmission
via a wireless apparatus.
Mr Speaker, after this initial
humbling success, Marconi went on to
establish, what became, the Wireless
Telegraph & Signal Company Ltd some
six months later. In 1922, this company
became one of the six founders of what
has since become known as the British
Broadcasting Company.
Mr Speaker, each year, the United
Nations Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
celebrates World Radio Day by planning
activities with broadcasters, organisa-
Statements
tions and communities across the world.
The first World Radio Day was officially
celebrated in 2012. This year, the theme
adopted for the celebration is “Radio and Peace”.
Mr Speaker, despite being more than
a century old, radio remains one of the
most widely used platforms for social
interaction, information exchange, and
education. It has been used to assist
people, notably youth, in having
conversations about issues that concern
them. It provides journalists with a
forum to report the truth and share their
stories, and it has also helped to save
lives during natural or man-made
disasters. Radio technology has evolved
since its inception and today, we have the
luxury of streaming via internet radio.
Additionally, radio broadcasts are
carried through other new media
channels in order to reach the
technologically-advanced population of
the world.
In Ghana, according to historic
accounts, radio emerged on the scenes on
31st July, 1935. This was introduced by
Governor Arnold Hodson at the time. He
was affectionately called the “Sunshine Governor”. He was assisted by a British engineer, Mr F.A.W. Byron. On that
fortuitous day, at 1700GMT, a
gramophone records comprising martial
and line music were relayed, and at
exactly 1745GMT, the voice of Sir
Arnold Hodson came over the airwaves
and began the transmission of radio in
the Gold Coast, now Ghana. The new
broadcasting service was code-named
“Radio ZOY” and it was manned by eight technicians and housed in a small
bungalow on 9th Road near the Ridge
Police Station in Accra.
Over the years, radio technology has
provided commercial opportunities to
corporate organisations and individuals
to invest in broadcasting for the financial
gains that it offers. Ghana has had its fair
share of the business nature radio has
brought. The data from the National
Communications Authority (NCA),
indicate that as at the third quarter of
2019, there were as many as 477 radio
stations authorised to operate in Ghana.
This number is made up of 31 public
radio stations, five public foreign radio
stations, 73 community radio stations, 21
campus radio stations, and 347
commercial radio stations.
Mr Speaker, while acknowledging
the important role of radio on this
important day, which is marked
internationally, I would like to
deliberately make a call to the effect that
we need to encourage the establishment
of a lot of radio stations in our
communities, particularly, because I am
mindful of the theme chosen for this
year, which is “Radio and Peace”.
My understanding is that the
recognition of the ability of radio to fuel
conflict, and the ability of professional
independent radio to instruct talks to
bring peace is very paramount.
Oftentimes, as Hon Members of
Parliament who hail from rural
communities, we rely on radio to
disseminate information and educate our
constituents on happenings in
metropolitan Accra. The tedious nature
Statements
of this communication makes it very
difficult to use other means than radio.
Sometimes, the difficulties that the
networks go through to receive news in
some of the remote areas make radio
very portable for our fishermen and
farmers in these areas to rely on radio to
keep them updated.
Mr Speaker, even though community
radio stations have unique setups, which
are expected to be owned and run by
specific communities, they are required
to be authorised by NCA. The data from
NCA further indicated that by the third
quarter of 2019, out of the 73 rural and
community radio stations that had been
authorised to operate, only 59 are
operating.
Mr Speaker, the number of
community radio stations that are
permitted to operate, vis-à-vis the size of
our population, show clearly that there is
a deficit in establishing community radio
stations, which offer an easy access to
reaching out to our various communities
in the rural areas.
Mr Speaker, due to the portability of
radio and its accoutrements, we have all
had experiences where, at one time or the
other, especially for those of us who
were either engaged in farming and
fishing, to move around with our radio
sets to be able to stay up to speed with
the times.
Mr Speaker, in order to fortify my
point in calling for more community
radio establishments, I would want to
refer to two recent academic publications
by two young men in our universities. In
2022, Kankan and Attuh published an
academic publication in the journal
called Global Knowledge, Memory and
Communication under the topic “The Role of Community Radio in
Information Dissemination towards
Youth Development in Ghana”. This paper found that community radio in
Ghana has provided opportunity for
youth engagement and entertainment,
and education and health awareness;
used to advocate for infrastructure,
business and skills development as well
as provided opportunities for career and
life coaching.
Mr Speaker, the research further
established that radio stations do focus
on empowering community participation
in numerous development programmes,
and thereby enhance the capacity of the
local people to work together to tackle a
range of social inequalities such as
discrimination and marginalisation.
Mr Speaker, in their second
publication in the Journal of Radio and
Audio Media under the topic
“Community Radio as Information Dissemination Tool for Sustainable
Rural Development in Ghana” published by Routledge Taylor and Francis Group,
Attuh and Kankam (2022), found that
community radio stations provide
opportunities for community members to
be involved at various stages of radio
broadcasting.
In addition, they asserted that
community radio stations provide
platforms for the discussions of
Statements
livelihood programmes that are specific
to communities, and provide the
platform for empowerment of
community members. Most importantly,
part of their findings indicated that
community members were allowed to
participate in development planning
which is key in sustainable development
through the use of community radio.
Mr Speaker, prior to their studies,
earlier research works by Mohammed
Faisal Amadu and Amin Alhassan
(2018); and Seidu Al-hassan, Alhassan
Andani and Abdulai Abdul-Malik (2011)
had revealed how Radio Gaaki in the
Saboba District and Simli Radio have
significantly improved on the
information sharing abilities as well as
the livelihoods of the listeners within
their catchment areas.
Mr Speaker, it is based on the above
that I would want to urge the House to
appreciate the significance of the
influence that community radio stations
have on our various constituencies and
encourage NCA to pay attention in
licensing individuals and persons to
establish community radio stations
which, by so doing, would help policy
implementation and also bring about
community improvement through
information dissemination.
I thank you, Mr Speaker, for the
opportunity.
