By Abigail Sommutaar Nurutome
Wa, (UW/R), Sept. 09, GNA – The Upper West Regional chapter of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), has awarded Philip Tengzu, a Chief Reporter with the Wa office of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) the best journalist in the Agriculture/Food Security and Climate Change categories.
He received citations and plaques in recognition of his dedication to reporting on the Agriculture/Food Security and Climate Change sectors in the region and the impact of his works on those sectors.
The awards ceremony, the maiden edition in the region, was on the theme: “Sustaining Ghana’s Democracy before, during and after the 2024 General Election: The Role of Peace Journalism”.
The USAID Feed the Future Ghana PolicyLink Activity, the major sponsor of the awards ceremony, also specifically sponsored the Agriculture/Food Security and Climate Change categories of the awards.
As part of his award package, Mr Tengzu and the GNA would sign a one-year contract with PolicyLink where the latter would support the former with logistics and resources to cover compelling stories in the Agriculture and Climate Change sectors.
PolicyLink would also sanction the journalist to produce stories in those sectors that were of interest to the Activity to be published on GNA within the one-year period.
Also, Mr Tengzu would undertake a one-year online course in a programme of his choice to be sponsored by the Policy-Link Activity as well as profile him on all USAID social media platforms.
Eight awards, including the Regional Best Journalist of the year award, were presented to four journalists in the region.
JoyNews’ Upper West Regional Correspondent, Mr Rafiq Salam, was adjudged the Upper West Regional GJA Journalist of the year.
Madam Lydia Darlington Fordjuor of the New Times Corporation and Mr Abubakari Wangara of Media General were also honoured in various categories at the event.
Mr Bajin D. Pobia, a retired Upper West Regional Manager of GNA and Mr Ivan Domasah, a retired broadcast journalist in the region, were also honoured for their contributions to the development of journalism in the region.
Speaking at the event held in Wa at, Mr Seidu Bomanjo, the Upper West Regional Vice Chairman of GJA, appealed to the national secretariat of the Association to support the regional branches to build the capacity of members in the region to enhance their work.
He expressed concern about the proliferation of media organisations in the region without the requisite skilled personnel, which was affecting the professional standards and ethical journalism in the region.
He believed that enhancing the skills of journalists and media practitioners in the region would help improve the ethical standards of journalism practice and output in the region.
Naa Professor Edmund N. Delle Chiir VIII, the Paramount Chief of the Nandom Traditional Area, who chaired the event emphasised the importance of peace for national development, which the media must uphold and promote.
“In peace journalism, journalists or the media place emphasis on the prevention and resolution of conflict, they don’t stoke the fire.
There is no doubt about the critical role of the media in promoting and ensuring national peace and development,” Naa Prof. Chiir explained.
Mr Frank Kofi Boadi, Strategic Communication Specialist at the Feed the Future Ghana Policy LINK Activity, recognised the media’s role and power to enhance awareness, promote transparency and accountability especially in the agricultural and climate change sector policy processes.
He said Ghana’s media was plagued with challenges including resources constraints, under-investment in equipment and capacity building for staff, which affected its ability to live its expected mandate.
“The result is a constraint in the media’s ability to produce high-quality journalism. Again, many media organisations lack the resources to conduct in-depth investigations or to adequately cover remote areas of the country.
This also limits the ability to provide comprehensive news coverage of the issues that affect the most vulnerable and marginalised in our society”, Mr Boadi explained.
He said that it informed the decision of PolicyLink to support the media in the country to encourage and promote media interest in the coverage and enhance quality in reporting in agriculture and climate change policy issues.
He stated that to achieve that objective, PolicyLink had designed media-focused interventions in its work plans this and the next fiscal years of the PolicyLink Activity, which included their support to the annual GJA awards.
Mr Boadi announced that PolicyLink would institute a grant programme in its next fiscal year to support media organisations and entities to design programmes and interventions that would contribute to promoting transparency and accountability in the agriculture sector.
GNA