Sierra Leone: Media Commission rejects FCC's Radio Bid

Freetown — The Independent Media Commission (IMC) has turned down a Freetown City Council (FCC) application for a license to establish a radio station in the municipality.

"We have carefully looked into the application from the Freetown City Council but the board is not convinced that the radio station will not be politicized with its attendant consequences," a release from the IMC said.

It could be recalled that the FCC recently applied to the IMC for a license to establish a radio station to educate the masses about their programmes and the importance of paying taxes.

The development raised political eyebrows, especially from the opposition, civil society organisations and members of the public about council's genuine intension in setting up the station. Some political observers believe granting the FCC the right to operate a radio would be a recipe for chaos as they think the ruling government might want to use it to propagate their political message.

The IMC said, from lessons learnt in the past, it is not in the national interest for the institution to issue a license to council, which it said "is currently heavily dominated by members of one of the political parties".

The IMC board advised the FCC to make effective use of the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation, SLBC and other radio stations within the Freetown municipality to sell their programmes to the public.

- February 15, 2010 by Ibrahim Tarawallie from "Concorde Times"

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Source: allafrica.com/stories/201002160884.html (accessed on 16.02.2010)