Ho, Nov. 17, GNA – Professor Amin Alhassan, Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, has disclosed that the regional subsidiaries of the Corporation would be retooled to enhance service delivery in 2022.
He said obsolete transmitters and other necessary equipment would be replaced to enable the stations to deliver effective and quality services to the people.
Prof. Alhassan who was speaking at a durbar to climax the Silver Jubilee of the Corporation’s Volta Star Radio in Ho, in the Volta region said much of the retooling was done this year in Accra at the head office of the Corporation.
He underscored the need for GBC to put in place certain private sector practices that would bring about efficiency, and move away from being bureaucracy to operate as a business to survive.
The Director-General said, “we need to do things differently if we are to survive the next 25 years or 86 years,” hence, management at the beginning of this year launched the process of transforming GBC from bureaucracy to business.
“We were set up as a government bureaucracy to offer broadcasting services. Today, we have to move away from the framework. We are no more a department of the government for broadcast services.
We are expected to sit up and be exactly as a public service broadcaster…in this particular shift, we will need to move away from being a bureaucracy to operate as a business.”
“Business thinking informs our decision”, he said, adding that discussions would be held on how to turn some sub-stations to autonomous stations to maximise market as the market of broadcasting was such that you had to get close to the people.
Prof. Alhassan commended management and staff of Volta Star Radio for their hard work in keeping the Station in operation despite the numerous challenges it faced and urged them to continue with the good work.
He stressed the need for the staff of GBC to put in their maximum best to justify their salary and showed value for the investment the taxpayer and government put on them, and be willing to accept posting to where their services would be needed.
The Director-General said management was working hard to resolve issues affecting retirees of the Corporation as they formed an integral part of the Corporation.
He said there had been a peaceful, sound, and harmonious relationship between management and unionised staff of the GBC in recent times, and was optimistic that it would be maintained for the progress of the Corporation.
Madam Fatimatu Abubakar, a Deputy Minister of Information said 25 years of uninterrupted radio broadcasting amidst numerous challenges facing the Ghanaian media industry was no mean achievement, and commended management and staff of the Volta Star Radio for how far they have come.
She said, since the establishment of the Station, the social, cultural, and political fabric of the area had been kept together through quality content and informative programming.
Madam Abubakar said the favourite entertainment and educative programmes of the Station including the adult education programme had truly projected the cultural values of the people of the Region.
“It is worth noting that the Volta Star Radio is perhaps the most penetrative radio station when it comes to public broadcasting in the Volta Region”, she said.
The Deputy Information Minister entreated management and staff of the Station to continue to be guided by the tenets of the profession to deliver value in the course of their duties.
Madam Abubakar called on them to leverage on technology to serve the people of the Volta region with great broadcasting services, and to remain relevant and competitive in the Industry.
We can do more in supporting the Ghanaian media than we are currently doing. The Volta Star Radio genuinely deserves relevant, timely, and sustained investments to improve the quality of its output, she said.
The Deputy Information Minister said the government had embarked on a transformation agenda to reorganize and reposition GBC as one of the competitive and leading players in the Ghanaian media landscape.
She said the reorganization of GBC would enable the Corporation be retooled to become one of the vibrant and productive media organisations in the country.
She said a committee had been put together to drive the agenda, and was optimistic that the process, when finalised, would address the issues of inadequate budgetary and other operational challenges bedeviling the Corporation.
Madam Abubakar urged corporate Ghana and other Development partners to extend some logistical support to help enhance the activities of GBC and its subsidiaries across the country for an improved public broadcasting service.
Mr John Gadawusu, the Volta Regional Director of the Station, said the station had impacted positively on the lives of many and contributed immensely to the development of the Volta Region since its inception.
The Station originally had a wider coverage with regions including Greater Accra, Eastern, Northern, Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, he said, adding that neighbouring countries like Togo, Benin and Nigeria listened to it.
Mr Gadawusu said the same story could not be said about the station today, as it was confronted with many challenges including frequent breakdown of ageing transmitters, limiting its coverage.
He appealed to benevolent organisations, philanthropists, business entities, religious organisations, and traditional authorities to support the station in acquiring new equipment to deliver effectively.
The event was on the theme: “25 years of Radio Broadcasting, the socio-cultural effect on listeners.” and was aimed to mobilise funds to retool the Station and also to establish Volta Star Television Station.
GNA