Afrique Media Case: Real reasons for the stand-off

The Pan African television station, Afrique Media has been closed since August 2015. Felix Zogo, the technical advisor at the Ministry of Communication (MINCOM), said on a private television channel in Yaoundé that the National Communication Council (NCC) is not an independent body.

"Before the television escalation, MINCOM and NCC in recent weeks have engaged in battles in the media," reports the newspaper Le Jour of Thursday 22 October 2015.

According to the newspaper, a member of the NCC reveals that Tchirouma Issa Bakary, MINCOM, sent a three-page correspondence to Peter Essoka, vice president of the NCC, in which he was reminded that the organization depends entirely on the services of his ministry.

According to the MINCOM, "the CNC certainly has a legal backing and financial autonomy. But the fact remains that the President of the Republic signed on September 14, 2012 another decree organizing the Ministry of Communication, where he attributes to the Ministry of Communication the monitoring mission of NCC activities, which is an organ of regulation and not self-regulation," says Felix Zogo and reported by the newspaper Le Jour.

According to a member of the NCC, "the regime has never wanted an independent NCC. He has collided between Afrique Media and the power, "he said in shock.

According to Francis Ampere Simo, teacher of Media Law, MINCOM and NCC are two state structures meant to work together. The NCC is responsible for regulation in the communications sector on behalf of the State. Public authorities cannot "send orders, instructions or even simple advice" which will guarantee impartiality of state intervention, says the teacher.

According to Mr. Simo, both parties should agree to enforce the sanction of the NCC, which has not been waived simply because it has never been applied.

The NCC had banned Afrique Broadcast Media for a period of one month. The station left to broadcast from Ndjamena in Chad. Afrique Media has never stopped broadcasting despite the sanctions of the NCC.