NATIONAL MEDIA COMMISSION COMMENDS GBC (PAGE 20, FEB 5, 2010)

WORKERS of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) have been commended for working hard for the corporation to meet the challenges as a state-owned media organisation.
The Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), Mr Kabral Blay-Amihere, who made the commendation, said the company’s determination and resilience in the face of many odds had brought the station that far.
He mentioned some of the difficulties as poor remuneration, poor equipment and unfavourable working environment, adding that in spite of all those challenges, the staff of the company were able to produce news and entertainment to the people day and night.
Mr Blay-Amihere, who was addressing the GBC Divisional Public Services Workers Union (PSWU) delegates conference said the full story would be told at its 75th (Diamond) Jubilee celebration.
The conference was on the theme: “Emerging challenges of public broadcasting: The role of the union.”
Mr Blay-Amihere quoted the old adage that, “To those that much has been given, much is expected,” to buttress his point.
“It is universally accepted that the media are very vital to the building of every nation. As pioneer in broadcasting in the country, and as a state-owned public broadcasting service, much has been expected from GBC with so little given to it to fulfil its mandate,” Mr Blay Amihere stressed.
He said he was aware of the new challenges facing the service in the wake of the expanded media landscape with more than 120 FM radio stations, as well as more than 50 newspapers.
Mr Blay-Amihere also touched on the advent of the Internet, which sometimes was at the disadvantage of GBC which had a reputation of high professionalism and a national mandate that was not driven by profit but service to the nation.
The NMC Chairman commended the workers for resisting the temptation to “abandon the ship and join greener pastures”.
He was of the opinion that the new Public Broadcasting Bill, when passed, would address the issue of funding and other related challenges that could make the GBC a truly public broadcaster.
The Director-General of GBC, Mr Ampem Darko, said for the corporation to achieve its vision of providing an efficient, reliable and credible broadcasting service in the fields of culture, education and entertainment which reflected national progress and aspirations, as well as generated more revenue, there was the need to review the existing rules and tariffs.
He recalled how toll bridge rates had gone up astronomically, but television licence fees still remained as low as 30Gp, a situation he stressed needed to be addressed to prevent the taxpayer’s station being used as poaching grounds for private stations.

18 SCHOOLS TO BENEFIT FROM PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMME (PAGE 11, JAN 20, 2010)

EIGHTEEN junior and senior high schools in the Kumasi Metropolis are to benefit from the School-to-School Partnership Programme under the Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI).
The programme is designed to strengthen the awareness on culture, foster the exchange of rewarding ideas and bridge the digital divide by reinforcing the use of technology in educational institutions.
The Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Samuel Sarpong, disclosed this when officials of the Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) visited the metropolitan assembly.
Among them was Professor Jeffrey Sachs, co-founder of the Millennium Promise Alliance and Director of the Earth Institute at the Columbia University, and Mr Kofi Annan, a former United Nations Secretary-General.
Giving a brief history of the MCI, Mr Sarpong said Kumasi was launched as one of the first seven millennium cities in the African sub-region in January, 2006.
That, he noted, was followed in July that same year, by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the MCI and the commencement of the assessment of the Millennium Cities in 2007.
He said the programme was going to be of great benefit to Kumasi as it would accelerate the pace of its development and reduce poverty among the people.
Mr Sarpong said in close collaboration with some organs of the United Nations (UN) in April 2007, an Investors Guide for the city was launched in London, at which over 120 people from both the private and public sectors participated.
Currently, he said, Kumasi had four uncompleted MCI projects that had reached various stages of completion.
Mr Sarpong said the metropolitan assembly had provided 15 computers for the Opoku Ware School to facilitate the School-to-School Partnership Programme, while three computers had also been released to the health sector for the Mother and Baby Unit of the Suntreso Hospital for record keeping.
Other benefits include the sponsorship of five pre-school teachers to Israel, maternity clinic and ward and kindergarten blocks with ancillary facilities for five communities.
“The KMA believes that these modest achievements and remarkable efforts will go a long way to help make the Millennium Development Goals achievable in the metropolis”, he stressed, and expressed the assembly’s gratitude to the entire MCI team for their commitment to the initiative.
Prof. Sachs in his reply said the MCI delegation was in Kumasi to work together with the assembly to connect schools in Kumasi with their counterparts in New York and Washington.
“We have a lot of great things ahead. It is time for Ghana to improve investment and technology”, he stated.
He also commended Mr Kofi Annan for mooting the idea of the Millennium Goals.

FOOTBALLER JAILED 20 YEARS FOR DEFILEMENT (PAGE 3, JAN 16, 2010)

THE Kumasi Circuit Court has sentenced an 18-year-old footballer, Augustine Appiah, to a 20-year jail term for defilement.
Appiah pleaded not guilty to the charge but the prosecution was able to prove its case.
Presenting the facts to the court, presided over by Mr Emmanuel Amo-Yartey, the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Comfort Baffuor-Kyei, said both the victim and the convict lived very close to each other at Abuakwa-Maakro in Kumasi.
She said on December 15, 2009, Appiah took undue advantage of the absence of the victim’s father from the house and forcibly had sex with her on the floor in her father’s room.
When her father arrived, the victim narrated the incident to him and he, in turn, reported the matter to the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Police Service in Kumasi.
Appiah was arrested three days after the incident.
A police medical form was issued to the victim, who returned it duly endorsed by a medical officer.
According to the prosecution, a police report stated that the convict had admitted the offence in his caution statement. However, during the trial in chambers, the convict alleged that the victim was his girlfriend.