Government will support GBC, GNA, ISD - Oppong Nkrumah

A Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has given an assurance that the Akufo-Addo-led government will strive in the face of recent budgetary challenges to provide for the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), the Ghana News Agency (GNA) and the Information Services Department (ISD) to help them deliver on their mandate.

He also challenged the management and staff of the agencies under the ministry to be innovative to stay relevant in the midst of keen competition in the media industry brought about by the Internet.

Mr Nkrumah, who is also a Member of Parliament (MP) for Ofoase Ayirebi, was addressing management and staff of GNA, GBC and ISD in the Ashanti Region as part of measures to brainstorm and carve a new way for the agencies to survive in the face of current keen competition in Kumasi.

He said with the liberalisation of the media landscape, particularly the removal of restrictions on the setting up of radio stations coupled with the spread and usage of the internet, the ISD and the GNA would encounter very keen competition, which demanded a new way of doing things.

He commended them for some initiatives they had commenced and urged them to continue so that they would be on top of the competition.

For ISD, Mr Nkrumah said apart from disseminating government information and engaging the people, they should bring feedback from the people to the government so that the administration would be able to gauge the impact of government policies on the people.

He noted that the government had lined up series of measures, including the provision of resources, equipment and other gadgets, to aid the work of these agencies but explained that these were being hampered because of lack of resources.

He said that notwithstanding, they would be assisted and urged them to also come out with strategies that would yield some internally generated funds so they would be able to use some for their activities and maintain the vehicles and other gadgets.

Mr Nkrumah was of the view that an agency such as the ISD, with its experienced personnel spread across the country, could take contract from some organisations for the dissemination of information as a means of generating revenue.

Touching on GBC, he announced that Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA) had agreed to supply some equipment to the GBC and added that JICA decided to provide the equipment partly because of how GBC was able to maintain the previous equipment supplied to them.

He said GBC had been generating some funds through its activities and urged them to move a step further to increase the revenue.