Upper East Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association, William Nlanjerbor Jalula has expressed displeasure over activities of the Ghana Revenue Authority in the region, which he said are scaring away businesses from advertising on radio.
According to the GJA Chairman, most business owners are now unwilling to advertise their businesses on radio for fear of being harassed by the GRA for taxes even if they are not making returns.
Mr. Jalula, who is also the manager of A1 Radio in Bolgatanga, said business people have had cause to abrogate advertisement contracts with his outfit because the GRA had been amounting pressure on them to pay tax for the simple reason that their businesses are being promoted on radio.
This, he asserted, is inappropriate and does not augur well for the sustainability of media outlets in the region as advertisement is their major source of income.
“GRA is part of the problem. Some shop owners will openly tell you that they won’t advertise because if they do, the next day, GRA will be at their shops demanding for money.
There was a business I complained about. The person called me and asked me to stop the advert because GRA had come to say that they have heard the advert on radio so he should pay and he said no, he couldn’t pay the money they were asking for. And they say if ‘you don’t raise that much, why do you advertise on radio?” he complained.
He said while he is not against the GRA going after businesses to ensure tax compliance, it is wrong for the state entity to cite advertisements on radio as grounds for its actions.
“Why would you do that? If you’re going for your money, go for your money but you don’t go to the business owner that ‘I have heard your advert on radio so it means you’re making money’”.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bolgatanga-based Tanga Radio, Agana Bawa Rashid shares Mr. Jalula’s concerns.
Mr. Rashid stated his station has lost advertisers as result of undue pressure amounted on them by the revenue collection agency.
“There’s one woman at station, when you go to talk about business, she would just say ‘please, I don’t want to see you’ because the moment you start mentioning her name on air, the next day, they (GRA) are there.
So you move to any shop, and that’s the complain. At a point in time, one guy was very bitter. He just didn’t understand why they were on him (like that) and the advert we were doing for him was just 200 cedis and the guy has to stop it,” he recounted.
The two said this while sharing their views on findings of a report by the University of Ghana and the Media Foundation for West Africa on the state of the Ghanaian media.
Most media outlets in the country, the report reveals, find it hard to even break even as the country’s media space is not financially viable.
The report also reveals that media personnel are poorly remunerated with some of them working months without pay.
