Information Minister visits Ghana News Agency

Minster of Information John Tia Akologu, on Tuesday extolled the high professional standards exhibited by the Ghana news Agency over the years, but said it was rather unfortunate that the Agency should be going through difficult times in spite of its good works.

“Until the technological boom and even now, the only way to know about Ghana was through GNA”, he said, while referring to the GNA was a first class centre of excellence in the gathering, processing and dissemination of high quality news and information.

Speaking at a staff durbar during a familiarisation visit to the GNA the Minister observed that the Agency was besieged with problems, and urged the other media houses in the country to help champion the cause of the Agency that covered the entire nation.

“You stand to benefit and not to lose anything if the GNA’s condition improves,” he told the media organizations.

On the issue of low budgetary allocation, he urged management of the GNA to make a strong case for every item on the agency’s budget and justify them accordingly to enable government to approve of a more substantial allocation for the Agency’s operations.

Mr Akologu indicated that the training he had from the Agency contributed to making him what he was today, and called for a closer relationship between management and the local Union to avoid suspicion and to move the work of the agency forward.

The Minister said he would not make promises but would prioritise the Agency’s problems and do what would be in the interest of the Agency.

His deputy, Mr James Agyenim-Boateng, also extolled the virtues of good journalistic standards of the GNA and how it gave him a good foundation in Journalism, entreating the youth to take the training on the job seriously because practical journalism was not taught in the classroom.

The General Manager of GNA, Nana Appau Duah said the greatest worry of the Agency was finance, especially when government was cutting down expenditure to reduce deficit, and requested that sufficient funding should be given the GNA to enable it to deliver on its mandate.

He said though a 50 per cent retention of the Agency’s Internally Generated Fund (IGF) had been approved by the Finance Ministry to expand its expenditure base, it was yet to be ratified by parliament and called on the Minister to fast-track the process when it was brought before the House.

The General Manager drew the Minister’s attention to the low salary levels of his staff and said the proposal for an enhanced salary structure had been forwarded to the Ministry upon request. He expressed the hope that the Single Spine Salary structure would help solve the problem.

He asked the Minister to revisit the issue of the refurbishment of the GNA newsroom and the front office, a pledge made by his predecessor, for which estimate had been submitted to the Ministry.

The Board Chairman, Dr. Anthony Bonnah Koomson, said it was time for the GNA to decide whether to still be on government subvention or be given seed money to resource itself and be on its own as in the case of other state-owned media.

Also present at the forum were members of the GNA management, including Mr Boakye-Dankwa Boadi, Supervising Chief Editor, Mr Francis Rex Annan, Administrative Manager, Mr Kofi Baffoe, Systems Manager; Mr Emmanuel Naah, Chief Accountant and Mr Mora Baffoe, Acting Business Development Manager of the Agency.

The Ghana News Agency was established on March 5, 1957, the eve of independence, as the first news agency in Sub-Saharan African as part of government’s comprehensive communication policy that sought to harness the information to build a viable, united and cohesive newly independent nation-state.

Since its establishment, GNA has carried out its mandate and mobilized the population for nation building, economic and social development, national unity and integration. It has also enhanced media pluralism by hooking into its network, more than 100 subscribers who extensively use its news bulletin for varied purposes.

Source: GNA