Accra (Greater Accra) 18 March '99
Members of Parliament today appealed to the
government to take urgent steps to house the National Film and Television
Institute (NAFTI), which has up to March 26 to vacate its present premises or be
ejected.
Members made the appeal today, when the debate for approval for 22.655
billion for the Ministry of Communications commenced.
Members made the appeal after being told by Nii Adjei-Boye Sekan, chairman
of the Committee on Communications, in his report on the sector ministry, that
the rented premises of the school is about to be sold.
The members stressed the importance of NAFTI to the film and television
industry and national development, and stressed that urgent measures be taken to
solve the problem.
The members also made urgent appeal to the government to provide the
institute with a celluloid machine, to enable it to provide training in
celluloid filming.
The committee observed that the school no longer offers training in this
subject due to the collapse of their equipment, which the government was
supposed to replace last year.
Nii Adjei-Boye said the committee was also dismayed to find out that out of
the 202.500 billion cedis allocated to the Ministry last year for development,
only 30.377 million cedis was released by the Ministry of Finance.
The committee expressed their disappointment over the Ministry of
Finance's inability to release all the funds and appealed to it to ensure that
the situation is not repeated this year.
''The committee observed with grave concern that, though it recommended
last year that computers and fax machines be provided to the Ghana News Agency
by the government, this did not materialise...''
The Agency is confronted with poor telephone facilities and lacks
vehicles, which do not augur well for effective communication.
The committee, therefore, recommended that government should improve this
situation to promote efficiency in the agency.
Nii Adjei-Boye Sekan appealed to the ministry to do all it can to address
the manpower problem of the Agency for maximum productivity.
The committee observed that poor staffing is one of the biggest problems
confronting the GNA, he explained.
This is made evident by the fact that there is only one director for
planning, research, statistics and human resource development.
