By: Ousman Saidykhan
The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) is set to revoke the licenses of at least ten commercial radio stations for non-compliance with regulations. A committee tasked with reviewing their license renewal applications will determine the fate of the remaining stations.
The ten stations, whose names were revealed at a press conference at PURA’s office, are Dego FM, Sky FM, Malagen Communication Network, City Limit Radio, AL-Falah Radio, Juneteenth (formerly Sahel), Nexus FM, Banjul FM, Capital FM, and Janneh Koto Radio FM.
According to PURA, the Minister of Information and Communication has already approved the revocation of their licenses. No specific date or time has been given.
“We are going to serve them with a notice – notice of revocation of their licenses. A committee has been established. We don’t have the date or time when we are going to do that, but we received a lot. We are going to look at everything holistically,” said Emma Mendy, Director at PURA’s Legal Licencing and Enforcement unit.
The decision to revoke the license of the ten radio stations was reached after they failed to respond to the regulator’s calls and did not file any written representation or renewal application, officials of PURA said.
The Regulatory body said they did not know why these stations did not respond.
PURA had set July 10 as the deadline for filing the renewal application, but the ten radio stations still needed to meet the date.
“The objective is not to revoke the license. The objective is to ensure that every player within this regulatory sector has regularised their licensing status and is also complying with the obligation put forward by the Law,” said Muhammed Ndure, Lagal Licencing and Enforcement Manager.
He said it is neither an “ambush” nor a “witch hunt.”
Thirty-eight (38) commercial radio stations have been licensed to operate in the country, and more than half of them, 20, had their licenses expired in 2019, Lagal Licencing and Enforcement Manager Ndure told journalists at a press conference.
Thirteen (13) had theirs expired in 2022, while only five (5) of the 38 applied for renewal before the revocation notice.
The Law allows license holders to apply for renewal three months before the expiration of their licenses.
The body believes they had given enough time to the radio stations, with their first notifications sent in May 2022 as reminders, to the compliance notifications sent in January 2024 for the stations to cease operation until they regularise their statuses.
“Again, we could have enforced that compliance notice was sent immediately, but like we said, we want to be a supportive regulator. We don’t want to impose too much onto you,”
A committee will review the renewal applications of various radio stations prior to making any decisions on their applications.
Nine stations have been granted licenses yet are not operational. Five of these have commenced operations for a period before ceasing, while four have never begun broadcasting.
