The West African Regional Director of CUTS International, Appiah Kusi Adomako, wants government to urgently pass a national competition law to tackle monopoly in key sectors, including pay-TV.
This follows MultiChoice’s refusal to reduce DStv prices. Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on Friday, August 1, Communications Minister Samuel Nartey George said the company claimed in a nine-page response that despite the cedi’s recent gains, its 240% depreciation over the past eight years makes a price cut impossible.
Sam George has therefore directed the National Communications Authority (NCA) to suspend DSTV’s broadcasting license if the company fails to reduce its prices by August 7, 2025.
Speaking to this in an interview on Citi Eyewitness News on Friday August 1, Adomako noted that the absence of competition has allowed companies like MultiChoice, operators of DSTV, to operate without effective regulatory checks, to the disadvantage of consumers.
“As a country, if we want to reduce such a dominant monopoly, I think that we need to come up with a competition law,” he said. “By competition law, I am sure we will be able to address most of these issues.”
Adomako revealed that although Ghana has had a draft competition bill prepared for nearly two decades, it is yet to be tabled before Parliament.
“Of course, we have this draft bill hanging over the Ministry of Trade for the past 18 years, and it’s never gone to Parliament,” he lamented.
“We hope that once Ghana is able to put it before Parliament, we can get some of these things destroyed.”
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