By Benjamin Akoto, GNA
Sunyani (Bono), Sept. 21, GNA – Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has urged the media to monitor and spotlight on-going government development projects to enable the nation to achieve value for money.
He reminded media practitioners that journalism played an integral role in advancing the nation’s development.
Mr Nketiah gave the advice at the fourth edition of the Bono Regional branch of the Ghana Journalists Association’s Awards at Sunyani in the Bono Region.
He noted that the government was investing billions of cedis into public development projects in the Bono Region and the nation by extension, encouraging the media in the region to keep proper records of those investments and monitor their implementation too.
“Know what has been awarded and who is doing the work and also know what the contract says and know when the project is supposed to be completed,” he advised.
The event was on the theme: “Ethics, integrity and impactful Journalism: Essential ingredients for societal transformation” and nine deserving media practitioners and journalists were honoured.
Mr Nketiah urged media practitioners to follow up on contract awarded projects and to establish whether they had been completed ensuring value for money.
“If the project is working well, the public deserves to know and where there is a problem, journalists must establish what happened and who is responsible,” he stressed.
He noted that: “Five years from now, it should be possible for anyone to consult the media archives in the Bono Region and reconstruct what has happened to the major development commitments being made today”.
Mr Nketiah said it was one of the ways journalisms held power to account, because governments and political parties would naturally tell their own stories.
He advised media organisations to leave behind credible records that did not depend solely on the version preferred by either side.
Mr Nketiah said journalism practice at the regional levels was particularly important because “much of the country’s discourses remain concentrated in Accra.”
“Some of the issues that matter most to people’s lives will not necessarily emerge from press conferences, but can be found in communities, markets, farms, schools, hospitals, district budgets and procurement records,” he stated.
Mr Nketiah urged the media to deepen their presence in local communities and use evidence-based reporting to document development projects and hold duty-bearers accountable as well.
GNA
Edited by Dennis Peprah/ Christabel Addo
Reporter: Benjamin Akoto, GNA
[email protected]