Ghanaian comedian, Derrick Kobina Bonney aka DKB has added his voice to the many Ghanaians who have spoken against the new TV license law which starts from August 21, 2015.
The comedian in an interview with OMGGhana.com said he is not against the policy but quickly added that Ghanaians will willingly pay the money if the national broadcaster respects entertainment in the country and gives it the necessary attention on it’s platforms.
“If they want us to pay TV license, then of course we should also demand services that will satisfy us. My reason is, when we pay, they will be satisfied and we also have to be satisfied for paying the cash but looking at this whole TV license issue, its a one sided thing because the government which is represented by GTV wants to take TV license but does not want to serve the interest of the youth.
GTV has no entertainment portal on their network. When you watch their network, you will see GTV government, GTV Sports Plus, GTV Live but you won’t see anything like GTV Entertainment.
So are they telling us entertainment is useless? Meanwhile, you have all these platforms and if you are having your parties, you call musicians and comedians to come entertain you which means that at the end of the day you need entertainment.
They compare us to UK people who pay TV license, fair enough but BBC serves the entertainment interest of the people.”
The comedian used BBC 1 Xtra, an entertainment platform on BBC where some Ghanaian musicians Sarkodie, Keche, Stonebwoy, Funny Face and others have been interviewed as an example.
“You are not serving entertainment and you expect the youth to reason with you?”
DKB revealed that most of the youth who own television sets in the country are not excited about the new policy and are not ready to pay if something is not done to their benefit.
DKB also said if GTV does not have people to run their entertainment show, “we have lots of entertainment gurus in the country who can help you. Mark Okreku Mantey, myself, 4syte’s Ignis and other guys are there to help if GTV launches its entertainment platform.”
The payments of fees for domestic owners of television sets,which starts from August 21 this year, has been increased from GH30pesewas to GHC36 for a year. However, two or more televisions attract a fee of GHC60.
