relatively easily in the capital Accra while national or local operators have been left out. At present, the NCA “does not account to anybody”. The question is what would be the best way to manage frequencies without this turning into a censorship tool. In 1992, the then Minister of Communication proposed to give the National Media Commission as an independent body the right to allocate frequencies, with the NCA only functioning as a service institution to the NMC in this regard. Presently, there are attempts under way to develop an ICT policy and a broadcasting law. The bottom line is that the freedom of print media is guaranteed by the constitution and indeed protected by other pieces of legislation. In regard to freedom of broadcasting media, there seems to be a major problem that needs to be resolved. SCORES: Individual scores: 4, 5, 5, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 2 Average score: 4.2 1.2 The right to freedom of expression is practised and citizens, including journalists, are asserting their rights without fear. ANALYSIS: The space for freedom of expression exists and is being used to quite some extent by citizens. In addition, the Courts of Law, the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the National Media Commission (NMC) serve as guarantors of freedom of expression apart from the media itself. A criminal libel law was repealed in 2001. It is important to note, though, that of late the frontiers of freedom of expression have been tested further by some media practitioners and pushed beyond what some believe are acceptable limits. This has led to an increase in media related court cases. Damages in significant amounts (up to 1 billion cedi = Euro 100.000) are now being awarded, sums which could push newspapers out of business. It is presumed that many of these court cases could have been avoided if journalists had followed the comprehensive Ghana Journalist Association’s code of conduct or adhered to the NMC’s mediation efforts more willingly. 2