Journalists urged to educate public on land issues
Mr Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo, Director of Newspapers at the Graphic Communications Group Limited, has charged journalists to consciously employ their platform to educate people on land related issues especially the Land Administration Project (LAP).
He said journalists who intend to inform and educate the people on land issues must themselves be informed and knowledgeable about the issues, events and topics they cover.
Mr Ayeboafo was speaking at the closing of a two-day capacity building seminar for journalists in the Southern Zone of Ghana in Accra.
The seminar, which is the first in a series of capacity building for media personnel was organised by the LAP under the auspices of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.
The journalists who participated in the seminar were selected from Eastern, Western, Central, Volta and the Greater Accra Regions.
Mr Ayeboafo said journalists who plan to report on land issues must also be knowledgeable in land laws, land administration systems, institutions which deal with land and the expertise available.
He said journalist must be willing to follow through the processes of getting accurate information and build strand that are interesting and attractive to readers.
He said journalists who are skilful in interview could use their ability to ask relevant questions to get the necessary story to offer good perspectives, which make their reports unique.
Mrs Sarah Antwi Boasiako, Gender Desk Officer at LAP, who spoke on the topic: “Gender in land Administration,” stated that the livelihoods of majority of women are closely linked to the land they occupy or use.
However they hardly have tenure security or control over those lands.
She said the customary laws on land ownership in Ghana are women unfriendly because access or use rights still hinges on the relationship with a male figure.
Mrs Antwi Boasiako noted that no nation could economically empower women without improving in particular their access to land and property, which serves as a base for food production, income generation, access to credit and as a means of savings for the future.
She said land is therefore a critical resource for women especially in the event that she becomes the household head as a result of migration by men, abandonment, divorce or death.
Mrs Antwi Boasiako said women’s access to land is a human rights issue and must be supported by all to ensure equitable development.
Source: GNA