Deputy Minister commends GNA

Accra, June 7, GNA - Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Deputy Minister of Information on Tuesday commended the Management and Staff of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) for their commitment to duty in spite of the difficult conditions under which they worked.

She said very basic needs like vehicles and computers, which the Agency lacked, had not deterred the staffs from performing their duties adding that the Ministry would ensure that those needs were provided to enhance their work.

Ms Botchway made these remarks when she paid a working visit to the Agency to interact with the Management and staff on issues of concern to the Agency and to familiarise herself with its operations. Mr Victor Forfoe, Assistant Director of the Ministry, accompanied her.

Ms Botchway said the Ministry of Information would liaise with the Ministry of Finance and other international donors to discuss how best to source funds to secure logistics for the Agency. She said the Ministry would also discuss with the District Assemblies to assist the Agency with office accommodation in the districts for the Agency's correspondents.

Nana Appau Duah, Acting General Manager of the GNA, said the Agency needed vehicles and computers.

He said for the past 20 years, not a single vehicle had been sent to the Regions to enhance the work of reporters, who brought news from the remotest villages.

Nana Appau Duah, who is the Supervising Chief Editor, said GNA had 65 subscribers made up of 50 for the local file and 15 for the foreign file.

He said the Agency depended on government subvention and generated only four per cent of its operational cost.

He said GNA was founded by Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the First President of Ghana on the eve of Ghana's Independence to give Africans the opportunity to tell their own story and had since been committed to the purpose of accuracy and fairness.

It has a workforce of 200 out of which 110 are Journalists. Mr Boakye-Dankwa Boadi, Head of Home Desk, noted that stories from the Agency always met the demands of the ethics of the Journalism Profession as well as national aspirations, of cohesion and development. He called on the Government to continue to support the Agency since it served society by providing a voice for the voiceless. 7 June 05