The Minister for Information and National Orientation, Hon. Mrs. Oboshie Sai Cofie took her much applauded media walk abouts to the Twin City in Western Region over the weekend. This was in part fulfilling a promise she made during one of her media interactions that she intended to visit all the media houses in the country for as long as she held her portfolio.
Her first stop was at the Municipal Chief Executive’s office, Hon. Kwesi Phillip Nkrumah, who in his welcome speech commended the good works of the Regional Information Officers on the collaborative efforts with the Municipal Assembly in its information delivery to the community.
He also expressed gratitude to the Minister for choosing Western Region as her first point call on her regional tours. He accompanied the Minister to the Regional Minister’s residence where another short welcoming ceremony took place.
The Regional Minister being a media man himself, applauded Hon. Oboshie Sai Cofie’s initiative to deepen the relationship between the media and government, he also used the occasion to admonish journalists who reported stories without getting the facts.
Overall, he did mention that Western Region was getting a good share of the national kitty as opposed to the perception out there that it was a marginalized region.
On her part, Mrs. Oboshie Sai Cofie reaffirmed her commitment to bring the government to the people through meaningful collaboration with the media, our partners in delivering government’s policies to the people.
The Ghana News Agency and a team of over 40 journalists, presenters, CEO’s of radio stations, met the Minister and her entourage at the Press Center where she interacted with the journalists and commended them for their good work in the region.
The Western Regional President of GJA, Mr. George Naykene, pleaded with the Minister to decentralise the “Meet the Press” concept to enable the regions to have the same level of information delivery with Sector Ministers.
The Minister affirmed that it was part of her mission and as demonstrated with her visit, she was going to take into account with her Ministry, to ensure that decentralization of the concept was expedited. She used that occasion to encourage her colleague Ministers to collaborate in this effort to ensure success.
From the Press Center, all the journalists accompanied her on the media walk about. The team started the tour at the Twin City Radio Station (GBC) where she met the staff, interacted with the radio host and also shared a word or two on National Orientation with the listeners. A National Orientation theme song was outdoored, which incidentally was produced by a son of the western region (Mr. Nkrumah).
The Minister and her entourage moved on to Kyzz FM, where the CEO of the station, Mr. Baah, welcomed her and joined her on the show to speak to the listeners of the station. At Kyzz Fm, she elaborated on the National Orientation Pillars and tasked the radio stations in Takoradi to join in the crusade to regain our cherished values which the National Orientation Campaign sought to do, she noted.
The Minister also visited Rok FM, Radio Max and Melody FM. At Melody FM, there was a miscommunication of the date and time of arrival of the Minister to this particular station, but, they frantically made amends to their plans and graciously accommodated her.
We found out later after she had interacted with their listeners, she was shown a memo that actually stated that she was expected the next day and all the staff of Melody were asked to be present to welcome her.
The management of Melody FM donated two beautiful T-shirts to the Minister as memorabilia to cement their new collaboration.
Concerns were raised by the presenter that regional radio stations and smaller newspapers with low circulation were not getting the needed advertising to stay in business.
He named the Palaver, the Democrat and the Lens specifically as the papers he felt were not getting the much needed advertising support. The Minister responded to the presenter and the listeners that it was not only these three papers but all the private newspapers shared the same concern. However, she reassured the presenter that her Ministry had already begun the facilitation process to spread the advertising budget to incorporate all private newspapers and stations in the country.
Hon. Oboshie Sai Cofie- was the guest of the famous evening program of Good News FM on Friday evening where she deliberated with the host, Dr. Prekese, the issues making the headlines and National Orientation.
The Government Spokesperson on Infrastructure, Mrs. Catherine Afeku who was part of the Minister’s team, complimented the program by translating the Minister’s submission into Twi for the listeners. The other members of her team who also contributed immensely to the success of the regional walk about were Mr. Prince Boakye Boateng and Mr. Dasebre Nelson.
On the second day of the visit, Hon. Minister, Mrs. Oboshie Sai Cofie graced the occasion of the 10th anniversary celebration of Skyy Power FM, as the guest of honour and gave a very moving speech on determination, the spirit of persistence and a can-do-it attitude which was an embodiment of the CEO and founder of Sky Media Group, Mr. Wilson Arthur.
Overall, the two day trip to Takoradi was successful and eventful, a further demonstration of the fact that information delivery needs to be decentralized and government needed to be brought to the grassroots as exemplified by Hon. Oboshie Sai Cofie’s example.
