Disclose status of GH¢1m media fund – Media Foundation tells Ghana gov’t

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has called on the Ghanaian government to publicly disclose the current status of the GH¢1million Media Development Fund (MDF).

According to the MFWA, it has emerged that all the key media stakeholders in the country were unaware of what has happened to the Fund.

The GH¢1million MDF was allocated in the 2012 budget.

In a statement November 25, 2013, the Media Foundation said Ghanaians and the media community need to know the whereabouts of the MDF.

“…all the key media stakeholders in the country were unaware of what has happened to the Fund,” the MFWA said on its website.

It mentioned that the National Media Commission (NMC), the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) and the Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) were all “not clear about the status of the Fund”.

However, the MFWA said it was surprised that at the recent GJA awards, none of the media stakeholders raised the issue about the lack of clarity on the Fund.

The Ministry of Information wants to manage the fund but the media fraternity wants an independent body to do so.

The MFWA is worried about the silence on the part of the Ministry of Information regarding the operationalisation of the Fund.

The MFWA therefore called on the Ministry to make public the current status of the Fund and also indicate why the Fund has not become operational despite the President’s promise in February that the Fund was going to be operational this year.

By Ekow Quandzie