People advised to avoid standing under trees during thunderstorms

Mr. Charles Yorke, Head of Research, Ghana Meteorological Agency, has advised against standing under trees during thunderstorms.

He explained that a tree can be struck by lighting and generate electricity around it and any living thing in the vicinity could be electrocuted.

Mr Yorke was speaking at a symposium organized by the Eastern Region Branch of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in Koforidua on Climate Change, to mark the observation of the World Press Freedom Day in the region.

The theme for the symposium was “Climate Change Adaptation–factors of land use Water Resources Management and the Weather, the role of the Media”.

It was sponsored by the Media Capacity Building Project on Climate Change of African Adaptation Programme (AAP)/ICFJ.

He advised people to put off their television sets during thunderstorms because the antenna could attract lightening and through that destroy the television set.

Mirrors should also be covered because the mirror could reflect light thrown on it by lightning and can blind people permanently.

In a speech read on his behalf, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Victor Smith, said media practitioners had a responsibility to ensure sanity in the community and the nation.

He said the media landscape of Ghana had become a war zone where insults and counter insults were being fired across political lines without any remorse.

Mr. Smith said “profanity drops like bombshell on us from the electronic medium, and the front pages of the newspapers without any prior warnings”.

He appealed to media personnel to avoid the use of hate speech, inflammatory and abusive language; and said by doing so the media would be playing the role of transforming society.

Mrs Ama Kudom-Agyemang, the Team Leader of Media Capacity Project of AAP, called for the building of capacities of media personnel to be able to correctly report on issues of climate change.

The National Vice-President of the GJA, Mr Affail Monney, said the GJA had obtained a bargaining certificate as a trade union.

He said what was needed was for the association to have a separate administration to handle issues on trade union activities.

He expressed the hope that members of the association would join the union to enable it bargain for better salaries for journalist.

The Eastern Regional Chairman of the GJA, Mr Edmund Quaynor, called for effective application of the labour laws of the country to ensure that, journalists are adequately remunerated.

“There cannot be freedom of expression when the journalist is not well remunerated,” he said.**