The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and four other professional media organizations in Guinea-Bissau have asked President Umaro Cissoko Embalo to intervene and ensure a reduction in the new media license fees in the country, which the petitioners consider excessive and potentially paralyzing.
In October 2022, the Guinean authorities published the new fees for acquiring and renewing licenses for media activities in the country. Under the new figures, it will be necessary to pay 500,000,000 CFA Francs (around 800,000 USD) to acquire a license for a commercial television with national coverage. This is at least a 6000% increase on the previous fees of 7,000,000 CFA Francs (around $10,000 USD). The recently announced fees also require the payment of 10,000,000 CFA Francs (USD $16,000) to have a license for private radio with national coverage. Renewal for this category has also increased by up to 900%.
Expressing serious concerns about the potential of the new taxes to destroy the media and undermine citizens’ right to information, the MFWA and its partners sent a petition to President Umaro Cissoko to intervene. The petition, dated February 14, 2023, was hand-delivered on February 16 and acknowledged by the President’s office.
“The media sector is already facing issues of low income, wages and poor working conditions. The increase in fees is therefore considered a threat to media freedom and access to information in the country,” said the petitioners.
The other four organizations in Guinea-Bissau that have joined the petition are: the Union of Journalists and Media Technicians (SINJOTECS), the Network of Community Radios and Televisions (RENARC), the Association of Women Media Professionals (AMPROCS) and the Order of Journalists of Guinea-Bissau (OJGB).
The petitioners stressed that the media sector in Guinea-Bissau is beset by a myriad of challenges, with many radio stations going months without being able to pay their workers’ salaries in full. Media outlets were already struggling to pay and renew old licensing fees, leading to the closure of 79 unpaid radio stations on April 7, 2022.
In view of the above, the MFWA and its partners called on the government and the media in Guinea-Bissau “to maintain a frank and constructive dialogue to discuss and adopt realistic rates, as well as to take measures to promote the sustainability of the media and access to information”.
Read the full petition here.
