Yeboah-Afari urges united front among journalists

Sunyani (B/A) Sept. 28, GNA - Ms. Ajoa Yeboah-Afari, a freelance journalist of international repute has called for a united front amongst journalists to enable the next President of Ghana Journalists Association to continue with the good works of the predecessors.

She mentioned the yeoman service rendered by Mr. Kabral Blay-Amihere and Mrs. Gifty Afenyi-Dadzie "who did well to uplift the image of our profession and the Association on the international scene". Ms. Yeboah-Afari, one of three contestants for the presidency of the association made the call when interacting with Mr Charles Koomson, Brong-Ahafo Regional Manager of Ghana News Agency and staff in his office at Sunyani.

Mr Kwabena Asumin-Gyamfi, Chief Editor of GBC-TV, and her Brong-Ahafo Regional Campaign Manager, accompanied her.

Ms. Yeboah-Afari emphasized that it was only when journalists were united that they could perform to expectation as members of the fourth estate of the realm.

"We as members of the GJA cannot remain static as we need to move forward with the rest of the world," she said.

The GJA presidential aspirant called on members of the Association to work as a team to propel it to achieve its set goals.

The shining feats chalked by Mr. Blay-Amihere and Mrs. Afenyi-Dadzie demand that we choose a similar dedicated, committed and levelheaded leadership to steer the affairs of the association to sustain and improve on the level attained.

Ms. Yeboah-Afari was a Deputy Editor of the "Mirror", a sister newspaper of the Daily Graphic, a former chairperson of the Greater Accra Regional branch of the GJA, a member of the Commonwealth Journalists Association and the Ghana Association of Writers. She is currently with the Media Foundation for West Africa and a consultant for TV Africa on news and current affairs and a correspondent for the London-based PANOS Features.

Ms Yeboah-Afari was one-time Public Affairs Officer of the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, Editor of the Commonwealth News and Information Service, Ghana's correspondent for the BBC Africa Service, among others.

She has not limited her profession only to news gathering and writing, she is also an author with a number of publications including "The Best of Yaa Yaa", "The Sound of Pestles" and "A Decade of Thoughts of a Native Daughter".

A product of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) and the University of Ghana, Legon, where she pursued a one-year course in Creative Writing, Ms. Yeboah-Afari has to her credit a number of awards and honours, including the Journalist of the Year award in 1972 and the Africa Columnist of the Year and was the first journalist to win the John Kugblenu Prize for Valour award by the GJA.