[ 2021-02-19 ]

Financially sound public institutions must invest in GNA
Government is encouraging financially sound public
institutions to invest in the Ghana News Agency
(GNA) and leverage its reach and credibility to
tell their success stories to the world.








Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister Designate for
Information, who said this during his vetting in
Parliament by the Appointment Committee, on
Thursday, challenged the Free Zone Board, the
Ghana Investment Promotion Council and the Ghana
Export Promotion Centre among others to take
advantage of GNA’s reach to attract strategic
foreign investment.

The Agency’s mandate include telling Africa’s
story from the African perspective for better
understanding, projection of positive African
image and global integration.

The Minister-Designate said the Agency’s new
management was repositioning the only national
wire service and therefore needed such support to
turn its fortunes around as a global player on the
media landscape.

He said the Agency has already recorded growth in
market share in terms of media outlets subscribing
to its stories and needed a push.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah said government had supported
the Agency to strengthen its online/social media
presence and improved its visibility through the
development of a new website.

The Minister- Designate was responding to a
question from Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority
Leader of Parliament, on the need to resource the
Ghana News Agency and improve the conditions of
service of staff.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah, also the Member of Parliament
for Ofoase Ayirebi in the Eastern Region, said it
was imperative for the State, through the National
Media Commission, to support the validation and
investigation of attacks on journalists as a
response to attacks on media practitioners in the
country.

Ghana's ratings on international media Index over
the past four years, had declined from 23rd
position to 30th due to the increasing attacks on
journalists in line of duty.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah stated that during his tenure as
Information Minister under the Akufo-Addo's
government, he established a Media Capacity
Enhancement Programme to build the capacity of
journalists through training, in order to enhance
compliance with the ethics of the journalism
profession.

The Minister-designate said any attack on
journalists was unacceptable and condemned in no
uncertain terms attacks on journalists even when a
journalist had violated the ethics of Journalism.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah gave the assurance that, if
given the nod, he would champion the passage of
the Broadcast Bill into law to enhance the freedom
of the media

He said the Ministry had established an IT
Secretariat and trained 455 Information Officers
so far, to respond to requests from the public.

The Ministry had increased the number of Public
Relations Officers (PROs) at the Information
Services Department (ISD) to support public
education campaigns on government policies.

Source - GNA

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