Put spotlight on anti-witchcraft bill – GBC Boss tells media
Professor Amin Alhassan, the Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) has implored the media to support and put a spotlight on the Anti-Witchcraft Bill to facilitate its passage into law.
He said the bill was going through stages of stakeholder engagements, saying it was imperative for the media to develop the interest, follow keenly and generate discourses on the bill.
The passage of the bill into law would criminalize witchcraft accusations and related offenses in the country.
“Dr Godfred Seidu Jawsaw, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wa East is spearheading the bill and we must support him,” Prof Alhassan stated.
He was speaking at a day’s high-profile round discussion table on inclusive Journalism in Accra.
The objective was to heighten regional engagement amongst journalists and civil society actors to exchange reporting and counter-narrative on good practices through the creation of a peace-building journalism network.
Attended by selected media practitioners and civil society organizations drawn from Ghana, Senegal and Sierra Leone, participants discussed how the media could serve as a catalyst for peace building in their respective countries and not for engendering conflicts.
The discussion forms part of the on-going “Engaging Media and Minorities to Act for Peace building (EMMAP)” project, a two-year intervention that is running from March 2022 to February 2024.
As part of the project, 10 Journalists from Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia participating in the online course were selected to undertake the five-day face-to-face training and field visit to some selected Ghanaian communities that host minority groups.
The purpose of the EMMAP programme, which is funded by the European Union (EU), is to raise public awareness of the inter-connections between conflict, migration, and minority exclusion to help build and consolidate sustainable peace in Ghana, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.
The EMMAP is being coordinated by Uganda-based Minority Rights Group International (MRGA) and implemented by the Ghana-based Media Platform on Environment and Climate Change (MPEC) and Media Reform Coordination Group (MRCG) of Sierra Leone, NGOs.
Prof Alhassan reminded the media that, “journalists have the power to frame and therefore let’s use that power to re-frame and shape our narratives.”
Speaking on the topic, “Conflict, Migration and Minority Rights: Media Perspective on Community Livelihood”, Prof Alhassan insisted he was strongly against advocacy against the disbandment of the Gambaga and other witch camps in the country.
In his view, it was imperative for the nation to put in place measures to transform the camps and to provide decent accommodation and a conducive environment for the inmates.
Source: GNA