Ghana News Agency to move in a new direction

Agona Swedru(C/R), July 11, GNA - The Board and Management of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) are redirecting their energies and focus towards transforming the nation's only wire service into a new, vibrant and self-sustaining multimedia institution.

They are therefore, engaging the services of consultants to draw up a strategic plan for funds towards realising this objective. Mr Rex Owusu-Ansah, Chairman of the Board of Directors, made this known when addressing a weekend retreat organised by the Board, Management and consultants at Agona Swedru in the Central region. The meeting examined operations of the GNA, analysed its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and brainstormed over producing a workable document to give the institution a new lease of life.

He said the plan would not only enable the GNA to surmount current logistical and financial constraints but would also make it depend less and less on government subvention to be able to stand on its own feet. Mr Owusu-Ansah, however, stressed the need for the Board to discuss the Agency's legal framework with the Minister of Information and National Orientation with the view to establishing a new instrument to allow GNA to change its focus and transform itself into a multimedia organisation operating along emerging Information Communication Technology trends.

The GNA computerised its operations well back in 1991, but has since the breakdown of its news agency equipment or server in 1997 grappled with a host of problems such as inadequate funding, low remuneration,

high attrition rate, slow transmission of news, insufficient vehicles and computers.

Mr Owusu-Ansah said the GNA had witnessed some critical moments in its operations during the recent past as a result of great budgetary, equipment and staffing constraints.

"The downward trend of government subvention over the past few years and the soaring bills and other unmet commitments against the rather low revenue the GNA generates have set both the Board and Management thinking hard as to which direction to go to enable the Agency to survive in the midst of the current difficult media terrain where competition is the order of the day," he stated. He said the GNA, as a subvented organisation, had to think even harder now that it had been slated to undergo the first phase of its restructuring exercise under the government's public sector reform programme.

"This, no doubt, places the Agency in a most difficult position as it is now compelled to perform its public service role effectively and at the same time infuse more professionalism into its operations, pay its staff well and meet its statutory and corporate responsibilities." Mr Owusu-Ansah said while the Agency waited for further directives from the Ministry of Public Sector Reforms, it was incumbent upon the Board, management and consultants to focus on the myriad problems facing the institution, analyse them and strategise to give the Agency a new lease of life.

Nana Appau Duah, Acting General Manager, stated that the new vision of the GNA, would make it the most reliable source of news on Ghana. The Agency's short-term objective, he said, was to place it in a position where it would be a viable commercial enterprise that would not depend on government resources.

These he said, could be done by identifying certain growth targets such as feature service, website, rural coverage and revival of the Agency's photography section.

Mr Kwaku Howard and Mr Francis A. Kwaidoo of the Inter Universe Consult, consultants, took the participants through the concept of strategic planning and allied topics.

They also engaged the managers in series of interactive exercises after they had made presentations on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of their respective departments with a view to meeting the challenges ahead of them.