By Abigail Sommutaar Nurutome
Wa (UW/R), Sept. 11, GNA – Mr Philip Tengzu, Chief Reporter with the Wa Office of the Ghana News Agency (GNA), has been adjudged the best journalist in the Agriculture/Food Security and Climate Change categories by the Upper West Regional Chapter of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA).
He received citations and plaques in recognition of his dedication to reporting on those subject areas 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 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 by GNA within the one-year period.
Mr Tengzu would also 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, were presented to four journalists in the region.
JoyNews’ Upper West Regional Correspondent, Mr Rafiq Salam, was adjudged the Regional 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.t
Mr Bajin D. Pobia, a retired Upper West Regional Manager of the GNA and Mr Ivan Domasah, a retired broadcast journalist, were also honoured for their contributions to the development of journalism in the region.
At the event held in Wa at the weekend, Mr Seidu Bomanjor, the Regional Vice Chairman of GJA, expressed concern over the proliferation of media organisations in the region without the requisite skilled personnel, which was affecting the professional standards and ethical journalism.
He appealed to the national secretariat of the Association to support the regional branches to build members’ capacity to enhance their work and improve their ethical standards.
Naa Professor Edmund N. Delle Chiir VIII, the Paramount Chief of the Nandom Traditional Area, who chaired the function, 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,” he said.
There is no doubt about the critical role of the media in promoting and ensuring national peace and development.”
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 resource 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,” he said.
“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 said that informed the decision of PolicyLink to support the media in building their interest in the coverage of 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