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The Chief Policy Analyst of the Ghana Institute of Public Policy Options (GIPPO), Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, says the allocation of frequencies in Ghana offends the spirit and the letter of the 1992 Constitution. He said the prerequisite that people who needed frequencies should be licensed was an aberration of the constitution and maintained that people who wanted frequencies should rather be asked to register them. He expressed the view that frequency allocation was gradually becoming a tool to suppress the people. Dr Wereko-Brobby (Popularly known as Tarzan), a former Chief Executive Officer of the Volta River Authority (VRA), was making a presentation at a roundtable on media ethics and transparency in the allocation of frequencies in Accra last Friday. The event was organised by the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) in collaboration with STAR-Ghana. Dr Wereko-Brobby was the first person to establish a private radio station in the Fourth Republic. Quoting extensively from Article 162 of the 1992 Constitution, Dr Wereko-Brobby said it was unambiguous that no licence was needed for frequency allocation, adding that the status quo had remained because Ghanaians had failed to test the law. He expressed disappointment that politicians from all the divide, since the advent of the 1992 Constitution, had paid lip service to transparency and equity in the allocation of frequencies, to help deepen democracy and freedom of expression. He, therefore, strongly challenged civil society to, as a matter of urgency, test the law to free Ghanaians from that arbitrary bondage. Communique In a communiqu� issued at the end of the meeting � which was a sequel to earlier ones held in Accra and Kumasi � the participants, who were made up of people from academia, civil society, the clergy, and media owners and practitioners, asked the National Communication Authority (NCA) to publish a full list of the true owners of all radio and television stations in the country, as is required by international best practice. They called for transparency and equity in the allocation of frequencies. In line with this, they said frequency allocation should be seen in the context of a broadcasting regulation aimed at deepening democracy and freedom of expression. Analogue to digital The participants also expressed concern about the country�s seeming unpreparedness for the forthcoming transition from analogue to digital transmission in June 2015 and called on the NCA and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) to embark on an intensive public education on the transmission transition. They again called for a review of the regulatory process to address the challenges of digitisation, as well as a new regulatory framework that addresses challenges of the transition period. Media Ethics On media ethics, participants asked that the National Media Commission (NMC) should be given legislative power for it to enforce its decisions and demanded the unionisation of journalists so that their cause could be championed effectively.