A Communications Team Member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Ekua Amoakoh, has advised the government to adopt dialogue in resolving the ongoing controversy over DStv pricing in Ghana.
Speaking on JoyNews’ AM Show, Dr. Amoakoh noted that while the Minister’s (Sam George) commitment is commendable, his approach may not produce the desired outcome.
“I think the posture of the minister is surely one to … move mountains for. I don’t see how that brings any kind of resolution. One thing we have to know is DStv is a product. Some might even consider it a luxury product. It’s not a necessity. it’s not something that you require. There are free-to-air channels…”
She stressed that Ghana operates a free market economy, where private businesses must be allowed to thrive without excessive regulation.
“It’s obvious that they are not going to yield that easily. We are in a country where it’s supposed to be a free market, if I’m not wrong. And especially from where I come from and from my political party, we believe in allowing the private sector to grow. So you don’t stifle them with regulation. You don’t do too much price regulation and intervention. You just allow the free market to operate.”
According to her, the best way forward is to encourage competition and engage DStv diplomatically.
“So indeed, the best solution would be to open up and allow competitors to come so that the prices will fall where they may. I think another mistake we make is this comparison with Nigeria. Nigeria has a population of over 200 million citizens, or more than that. So the pricing model or whatever their business plan is in Nigeria, we cannot expect that it is the same here.”
On threats to revoke the company’s license, Dr. Amoakoh warned against rash actions.
“So it’s something that requires dialogue; It’s not about writing a tweet that I’m taking your license tomorrow. When you know well, and sure that you cannot take their license tomorrow. They are a legitimate entity operating in this country. And unless you want to pay billions of dollars in mediation, you can’t just take their license. So you sit them down. And I’m sure in DStv’s pricing model, there’s an aspect of the pricing model that is in the control of the government, that we can look at that if we really want to do something about the prices.”
She cautioned that a confrontational approach would only worsen the situation.
“But if they are anything like me, and you come to me fighting and trying to give me instructions as to what to do, I’m sorry, you will have a very terrible fight, because that will also put me in a very defensive situation, and then it becomes a fight. But if you approach this situation from a point of diplomacy, you know, your prices are quite high relative to other regions. And I think that the people of Ghana, with respect to consumer protection, have to do something about it. So how do we go about it? I think we would have benefited and would have seen much better results than this public feud that is playing out.”
In frequent comparisons with Nigeria, Dr. Amoakoh argued that the two countries cannot be measured on the same scale.
“And again, you cannot continue to compare it with Nigeria. The way things are and the cost of living indeed is quite different between Ghana and Nigeria. So you can’t just expect that Nigerians are paying this much, so we want to pay this much. You have to ask what is going into your pricing model. In fact, how much of the premium that we pay for DStv is taxes as compared to Nigeria? These are all questions that we need to ask to be able to come to some kind of proper solution.”
She concluded with a reminder that governance must reflect democratic principles.
“I think sometimes the NDC gets confused. It’s not a military government anymore. We are a democracy.”