Ghana’s election petition cost state-TV GH¢3.5m on live coverage

The live coverage of the 2012 presidential election petition at the Supreme Court has cost the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) GH¢3.5 million.

The amount covers operational cost for the period April 4, 2013 to August 29, 2013.

An acting Deputy Director-General of GBC, Mr Oscar Nchor, told the Daily Graphic that “going forward, if nothing is done about this, we will not be in a position to render such a national service again”.

He gave a breakdown of the cost as covering the petition at the Supreme Court, link to Broadcasting House, production of sign language in TV studio, production of local languages in TV studio and nationwide radio and TV transmissions.

Explaining further, Mr Nchor noted that all GBC’s planned programmes were jettisoned by the live coverage, including those that would have generated some income for the corporation.

He said the coverage, although an important national assignment, placed the corporation at a disadvantaged position in relation to some of its competitors and called on individuals and corporate organisations to assist the state broadcaster to cover such national assignments that drained the coffers of the corporation.

He assured Ghanaians that GBC would provide excellent coverage of proceedings at the Supreme Court on the day of judgement.

Source: Daily Graphic