Believing that it does not benefit its beneficiaries, an NGO has asked the Congolese government to repeal the audiovisual license fee (RAV) introduced 20 years ago to support state media, in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, a copy of which was received by AFP on Monday.
The RAV, collected for the benefit of public broadcasting organizations, is levied on the bills of all subscribers to the Energie électrique du Congo (2EC, formerly Société nationale d'électricité) at a rate of 500 CFA francs (€0.76) per subscriber per month, the Congolese Association for the Defense of Consumer Rights (ACDDC) points out in its letter.
According to the association, in the first 14 years following its creation
in 2002, this levy generated more than 12.5 billion CFA francs (19 million
euros). However, the NGO believes that "the beneficiaries (state media) have never received this RAV on a regular basis" and that the law that
established it should therefore be "repealed."
"Why continue to keep a law that is not being enforced? The
best thing would be to simply abolish it," Alain
Banzouzi, lawyer for the ACDDC, told AFP. A source contacted at the Prime Minister's Office said they had received the NGO's letter but declined to comment.
In the 2023 finance law, the fund financed by the audiovisual license fee for the "financing of media outlets" is endowed with 150 million CFA francs (€228,000). This is a drop in the ocean compared to the amounts collected, according to professionals.
"There is a world of difference between what the energy company collects and what the government plans to give to the media," said an official from the Union of Congolese Press Professionals (UPPC), who preferred to remain anonymous.
Source: AFP