Financing arrangements

Short-term financing would be required to meet the initial costs of implementation including work on drafting the new legislation, advice in restructuring of the NMC and commissioning studies and reviews.

The immediate and critical priorities would be: drafting work on the new legislation

secondment of an institutional development specialist to the NMC review of NMC code of conduct for Commissioners

review of NMC recruitment procedures for Commissioners training and capacity building of NCA and NMC staff

At an early stage the NMC should have financial and staffing capacity for: preparation of a frequency plan for broadcast development

public consultation on the future of GBC

preparation of a policy for the future of sound broadcasting research into the transition from analogue to digital television

In the medium to long term the conduct of studies and enquiries and the additional regulatory responsibilities would lead to an increase in the funding requirements of the NMC. It is reasonable to assume that NMC’s budget would need to double within three years. Its income would need to come partly from increased government funding, partly from internally generated funding from fees paid by broadcasters, and partly from external donor support. While more detailed analysis will be needed, based on an institutional development program, provisional estimates for the current and next two years budget could be as follows:

NMC 2005 2006 2007

m Cedi

(US $,000) (US $,000)m Cedi (US $,000)m Cedi Income

Government of Ghana 1,300 (144) 1,700 (189) 1,900 (211) Broadcaster fees 0 (0) 400 (44) 900 (100) External donor support 10 (1) 800 (89) 600 (67)

Total income 1,310 (145) 2,900 (322) 3,400 (378) Expenditure

Staff salaries and benefits 300 (33) 700 (78) 900 (100) Administrative expenses 700 (78) 1,000 (110) 1,200 (133) Service activity (inc NCA) 100 (11) 600 (67) 800 (89) Studies and enquiries 210 (23) 600 (67) 500 (56)

Total expenditure 1,310 (145) 2,900 (322) 3,400 (378)

Including the costs of employing additional staff we estimate additional external financing would be needed in the region of Cedi 1.4 billion (US $ 156,000) over two years. External support for incremental operating costs would need to be on a rapidly declining basis. It is likely that the governmental budgetary allocation will need to increase correspondingly, with a levelling off as the revenue stream increases from commencement of broadcaster fees. In

the medium to long term external support would be used for studies and projects and not for core activities.

4.2

Indicative Timetable

4.2.1 Preparatory phase

If the Ministries of Communication and Information concur on the substance, the preparatory phase leading up to legislative change will need careful attention to timetable and sequencing over a period of six months from November 2005 to April 2006. The key milestones over this period would be the publication of a Bill in Parliament (anticipated in February 2006) and the approval of the Bill as an Act of Parliament (anticipated in April 2006). A timetable setting out the main activities in this phase is provided below.

Preparatory phase Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr MoC and MoI prepare outline

Consultation with broadcasters Draft broadcasting legislation Draft Legislative Instrument Parliament debates/approves Bill Parliament debates/approves LI Review NMC recruitment Review NMC code of conduct NMC institutional development

Key milestones

Publication of Bill

Act of Parliament  

4.2.2 First-year implementation

Subsequent to passage of the legislation, NMC in particular would need to move rapidly to put in place additional staff and new regulatory procedures, so that it could properly exercise its new regulatory powers when these would become NMC’s responsibility. It should also commence a series of studies and reviews on the future of broadcasting in Ghana, in order to set medium and long term policy objectives in consultation with stakeholders. The following timetable assumes the NMC is vested with new powers effective July 2006. It is indicative and assumes that external resources to support NMC institutional and capacity development would be available when the proposed legislation becomes effective. Consultations into digital television would be carried out over an extended timeframe commencing with a review of existing work.

First year implementation 2006/2007 Apr- Jun Jul- Sep Oct- Dec Jan- Mar NMC institutional development NMC staff recruitment NMC regulatory procedures NMC sound broadcasting policy NMC digital television policy NMC consultation on GBC NMC complaints settlement NMC new regulatory functions NMC/NCA joint frequency plan NMC/NCA joint planning group NCA capacity building

Key milestones

New powers vested in NMC 

4.2.3 Future considerations

In the medium term the NMC would need to ensure it could effectively process a substantially heavier workload than at present, including handling increased numbers of complaints and processing broadcasting service applications. It would need to establish an annual planning and reporting cycle, with the annual planning process open to public participation, and it should retain capacity in any given year to manage two or three strategic studies or consultations.

In the longer term, further consideration should be given to assessing the potential benefits of a merger between the NMC and the NCA particularly in the context of new technological developments in broadcasting and communications. This would almost certainly require Constitutional change in view of the Constitutional status of the NMC. A decision to go down this route would require planning over a two to three year period including legislative and Constitutional reform and integration of NMC and NCA functions.

4.3

Risks

4.3.1 Political factors

The implementation strategy depends on concerted commitment from all stakeholders. The parliamentary and electoral cycle sets timing constraints. Linking of broadcasting to telecommunications legislation will further narrow the window for legislative change. Implementation will need clear political leadership to avoid slippage and to ensure policy coherence across governmental departments. The regulatory bodies will need to be closely involved in the preparation for and implementation of the new legislation and must be fully committed to the process and its intended outcomes. Close consultation with broadcasting sector stakeholders, including members of the public, will also need to continue throughout, to ensure those affected by legislative change understand and, where necessary, are able to adapt to what is being proposed.

4.3.2 Operational factors

At the preparatory stage the critical operational factors will be the capacity to prepare draft legislation, to conduct effective consultations and to enable the NMC to commence work on institutional development and capacity building. As noted above, after Parliamentary approval of the new legislation, the NMC would need to move rapidly on the recruitment of additional staff, commencement of studies and reviews, putting in place of new regulatory procedures and the conversion of existing frequency authorisations to the new Broadcasting service authorisation. These all require forward planning to put into place. In both the preparatory phase and the first year of implementation, resources will need to be available in advance of new revenue streams coming online from broadcaster fees. This will require additional financial support to be available when needed, either from government or external donors or a combination of both.

4.4

Conclusions