The MFWA and media rights group in Guinea-Bissau express their serious concern over crippling licence fees, which will not only obliterate the broadcasting sector but will also undermine citizens' right to information
This statement was originally published on mfwa.org on 9 March 2023.
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), and four other media professional organisations in Guinea-Bissau, have appealed to President Umaro Cissoko Embalo to intervene and ensure a reduction in the country’s new media licensing fees that the petitioners consider to be excessive and potentially crippling.
In October 2022, the authorities in Guinea announced the new tariffs for acquiring and renewing licenses to operate media platforms in the country. Under the new tariff regime, one will need to pay 500,000,000 CFA Francs (about USD $850,000) to acquire licence for commercial television with national coverage. This figure represents at least a 7000% increase on the previous fees which were 7,000,000 CFA Francs (about USD $10,000). The newly announced tariffs also require payment of 10,000,000 CFA Francs (USD $16,400) to acquire a license to operate a radio station with national coverage. Renewal for this category also shot up by up to 500%.
Expressing serious concern about the potential of the new fees to decimate the media and undermine citizens’ right to information, the MFWA and its partners sent a petition to President Umaro Cissoko to intervene. The petition dated February 14, 2023, was hand-delivered on February 16 and acknowledged by the office of the President.
“The media sector is already beset with issues of low revenue, low wages and generally poor working conditions. The tariff increment is therefore considered a threat to media freedom and access to information in the country,” the petitioners said.
The four other co-petitioner organisations in Guinea-Bissau are Sindicato dos Jornalistas e Técnicos de Comunicação Social (SINJOTECS), Rede das Rádios e Televisões Comunitárias (RENARC), and Associação de Mulheres Profissionais de Comunicação Social (AMPROCS) and the Ordem de Jornalistas da Guiné-Bissau (OJGB),
The petitioners stressed that the media sector in Guinea-Bissau is beset by a myriad of challenges, with many radio stations going months without being able to pay the full salaries of their workers. The media were already struggling to pay and renew the old licensing fees, leading to the shutdown on April 7, 2022, of 79 defaulting radio stations.
In view of the above, the MFWA and its partners called on the government and the media in Guinea-Bissau “to have a frank and constructive dialogue to discuss and adopt realistic tariffs as well as take measures to promote media sustainability and access to information.”
Read the full petition here.
