'GNA still work-in-progress'

“Despite our 57 years of existence, the Ghana News Agency [GNA] is still learning new ways of staying viable as a business and therefore can be described as work-in progress”.

Dr Bernard Otabil, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GNA said this in an interview with newsmen following a visit by Dr. Edward Omane-Boamah, the Minister of Communications to the Head Office of the Agency on Wednesday.

The Minister was accompanied on the visit by his two deputies, Mr Felix Ofosu Kwakye and Mr Ato Sarpong.

Dr. Otabil indicated that the desire of management was for the Agency to become more profitable to improve its cash flow situation.

He stated, however, that “we may be 57 years old but we are still not matured enough as an organization. We still need time, and l would say that given the lost time spanning more than four decades, we are still a project in progress and nowhere near completion stage”.

“We are not even at 30 per cent of our potential as a news agency, as the core business of news gathering, processing and dissemination has shown over time that it wouldn’t be able to deliver the profitability expected to sustain the Agency when it is weaned off government subvention”, Dr Otabil stated.

Stressing on what the Agency needed to do to be more profitable, Dr. Otabil said the initial approach should be re-capitalisation.

“We have depended on the government for the day to day running of the Agency over the years and as government releases for goods and services and capital expenditure have stalled or delayed, a lot of gains chalked in the past have reversed”, Dr. Otabil said.

Dr Otabil cited, for instance, that rural reporting which had been the core advantage of the Agency was suffering because “there are not enough logistical support to reporters and stringers in the field”.

In his remarks, Dr Omane-Boamah had admonished the management of the Agency to embrace new methods of news gathering, processing and dissemination in order not only to break even but also to become profitable.

“There are private news organizations that are covering cost…..GNA must also look at ways to breakeven and become profitable…..beyond which it will no longer depend on government subvention”, Dr Omane-Boamah stated.

Making reference to the Government’s recent approach to wean off a number of state institutions from subvention, Dr. Omane-Boamah emphasized on the importance of that strategy, tasking the management team of the Agency to take advantage of the other Agencies under the Ministry of Communications to become more viable to stand on its own feet.

The Minister said it was commendable that GNA had introduced innovative products to make it more competitive and that it could further enhance its operational advantages by working closely with allied agencies under the Communications Ministry such as the National Information Technology Agency and the Information Services Department.