Accra, March 09, GNA – The National Media Commission (NMC) Wednesday inaugurated an eight-member governing board of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) and urged the members to collaborate with Management for better working conditions of staff.
The Board, chaired by Mr Ransford Tetteh, a former Editor of the Daily Graphic and member of the previous Board, has Mr Peter Claver Nibepwo Sangber-Dery, a Chartered Accountant and Banker, Mrs Ivy Hoetu, an ICT Specialist, and Mr Daniel Addai, a Legal Practitioner, as members.
The rest are Dr N.A. Ibrahim Lartey, a Medical Doctor and Pharmacist, Ms Juliet Amoah, Executive Director of Penplusbyte, Dr Charles Kwening, Founder and CEO of Kwening and Associates, and Mr Albert Kofi Owusu, the General Manager of GNA.
Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo, the Chairman of the NMC, who swore the Board members into office, said the Commission remained committed to protecting the state-owned media from undue political influence in order to deliver on their mandate without fear nor favour.
He urged the Agency to improve on its marketing skills to attract more subscribers from both the public and private media to improve its Internally Generated Funds (IGF) to carrying out the needed investment and facelift the GNA yearned for.
He commended the Management and staff for sustaining the industrial harmony and peace currently being enjoyed at the Agency and urged the staff to use official channels of redress to solve their grievances.
He said the NMC would not countenance any attempt to undermine the efforts of the Board and Management in carrying out their mandate.
He called for collaboration between the Management and the Board towards achieving organisational goals as well as upholding the Agency’s integrity to continue to enjoy the trust of the people.
He commended the staff for staying on despite the poor remuneration, leading to staff attrition, and called on the leadership not to default in remitting the staff to encourage them to give of their best.
“We need to work collectively because it is from our collective efforts that we will be able to make gains,” he said.
Professor Olivia Kwapong, the immediate past Board Chairperson, reiterated the need to review the Legislative Instrument 1971 (LI 680) establishing the Agency to meet current demands of subscribers, for instance the need to retain its IGF to aid development.
She said at this current state of misinformation through social media, there was the need to build on its accuracy and reliability, a niche that the Agency had couched for itself over the years, to ensure authentic and quality news.
She commended the Management for introducing the digitalisation process to improve news dissemination and speed to effectively serve clients.
Mr George Sarpong, the Executive Secretary of the NMC, said the GNA had the expertise to fact-check news to counter any misinformation or falsehood, in real time, before publishing, which had gone a long way to maintaining its credibility and public trust.
Despite the numerous challenges, he said the Agency had blazed the trail to stay in business and shown resilience in its efforts to be the best among its peers.
Mr Ransford Tetteh, the Board Chairman, said GNA could be an ally to the more than 500 radio stations, almost 100 television stations, and dozens of newspapers if the staff remained professional and maintained the credibility as the Agency’s higher weapon.
He said a matter of utmost importance to the Board, Management and Staff was the retention of the IGF to fund the needed investment, especially in giving the Agency a facelift, and appealed to Management for support to convince government to achieve that agenda.
He assured the NMC of the Board’s commitment to delivering on its mandate to ensure the growth and prosperity of the Agency, adding: “If we’re in doubt we shall consult.”
Mr Albert Owusu, the General Manager, said the GNA had initiated plans for the launch of a business and economic news reporting project to give a sharp focus to sectors of the economy towards projecting Ghana as the most attractive investment destination on the continent.
He said it had also rolled out digital operations on a pilot basis to take advantage of the digital revolution to expand news services covering a host of users.
The General Manager said in spite of funding challenges, the Agency was pleased with the output and responses from subscribers, adding that it was also developing scheme of services with the assistance of the Public Services Commission to align the human resource needs with the corresponding remuneration.
“…This is critical as management seeks to invest more in the training of staff to take on bigger projects. Staff retention will be key to the achievement of the Agency’s goals. We hope that the new Board will assist management to engage stakeholders for a review of our employees’ salaries,” he said.
The NMC, on March 2, 2022 announced the appointment of members of boards for state-owned media houses including the GNA, Graphic Communications Company Limited, New Times Corporation and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.
This is in accordance with Article 168 of the Constitution and section 2(1)(e) of the National Media Commission Act, 1993 (Act 449).
GNA