The Publishers Association of Liberia is calling on the Managing Director of the National Port Authority (NPA), Bill Twehway, to settle financial obligations owed media institutions to avoid consequences.
The NPA boss has refused to settle his indebtedness to a number of media houses for over three years, after performing legitimate media related services for the port despite several promises made and discussions held with it.
PAL said it sees the NPA’s management action as a deliberate attempt to strangulate and further increase the hardship faced by the Liberian media which in all certain terms is a minimum amount that can be settled if that arm of government sees it as a priority.
PAL believes that the delay in settling the payments to media institutions could lead to souring the cordial relations between the government and the media adding, “We think the attitude of Mr. Twehway is deliberate.”
“It is an affront to the already struggling media landscape. We cannot do legitimate work for his entity and when it comes to our payment, you and your team start to play games with the media. This is unacceptable,” PAL’s president, Othello Garblah said.
PAL is therefore demanding in the strongest term that the NPA boss settles all media debts or else the media will take actions available to them for the betterment of the media.
Some of the payments have lasted over three years and NPA has admitted to owning a number of media houses.
“We do not want to have any indirect confrontation with the government due to the inability or refusal to pay media debts. We are calling on President George Weah to prevail on his appointed official to settle our payments. You cannot tell me that NPA is broke and unable to pay its obligations,” Mr. Garblah further said.