GHANA INDEPENDENT BROADCASTERS ASSOCIATION vs. ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS TRIBUNAL NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY

PROF. DATE-BAH JSC (RETIRED): This is the final decision of the Electronic Communications Tribunal established by the Electronic Communications Act, 2008 (Act 775) in this case. It is the first such decision since the establishment of the Tribunal and it has been arrived at unanimously. Section 91 of the Act vests in this Tribunal jurisdiction to hear appeals from a person affected by a decision of the National Communications Authority ("NCA") or the Dispute Resolution Committees. Accordingly, this Tribunal has statutory authority to apply the principles of administrative law to decisions of the NCA and its Dispute Resolution Committees. INTRODUCTION The principles of administrative law in Ghana are based on the common law and the 1992 Constitution. As regards the common law principles, the following passage from De Smith, Woolf & Jowell's Principles of Judicial Review (1999) provides an insight into the principles that this Tribunal will be applying: "In all developed lega...