President Akufo-Addo has indicated his abhorrence for any attempt to influence the media in its work.
Rather, he says he prefers a media landscape in Ghana that is diverse in its reportage to one that is uniformed in its work as exist in countries saddled with dictatorship.
In view of that, he said his government will not engage in media-buying just to look good in the eyes of Ghanaians and the public.
This was when leadership and some members of the Ghana Journalists’ Association (GJA) called on him at the Jubilee House Monday, June 28, 2021.
Together with the GJA President were GJA Vice President, Linda Asante Adjei (Editor of the Ghana News Agency, GNA), Treasurer, Audrey Dakalu, 2018 Journalist of the year, Doreen Hammond of the Daily Graphic and Kwame Sefa Kayi, the 2017 Journalist of the year.
According to the President, he is “very encouraged by the continuing vibrancy and diversity of the Ghanaian media” in the nation and that the open and diverse media “is the very foundation of our democratic open society.”
For that reason, he indicated he “will hesitate to accept any situation that looks for uniformity in the media.”
“People have tried it all over the world and it never works. It doesn’t work for a simple reason, we all think differently and the media reflects these different ways that human beings think”, the President insisted.
He therefore noted “I am happy to see that this tendency, this tradition, is becoming stronger and stronger in our nation, the free, vigorous, and diversified media. Those of us in public life, we should be able to take it.”
On his part, President of the GJA, Affail Monney expressed profound appreciation to President of the Republic for accepting to open the recently held conference of African Journalists leaders in Accra and also to government for the donation of the award (VW saloon car) to the 2020 journalist of the year.
Request
He however appealed to government to assist the media in the country to mitigate the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic, asking the President to help “wave spectrum and regulatory fees for broadcasting institutions for one year.”
The Association also wants government to wave corporate tax on wages of media practitioners for three (3) months, and what its President call “injection of oxygen into the private media to the tune of GH5 million to help them to recover.”
“We believe that a positive response from your office will help bring the media back to normalcy” Affail Monney noted.
He also requested for government assistance in building a newly designed fifteen (15) storey office complex at the current location of the GJA office at Ridge in Accra.
That, he said was because, the current GJA office building (the international press centre) which was renovated and donated by the Kufuor government, per an assessment done by structural engineers, has developed defects.
“We believe that this can be added to your legacy projects because that enclave has the national cathedral and the recently inaugurated passport office. We humbly appeal to your good offices to add the international press centre project to your legacies” he rapped the President.
GJA president, Affail Monney said.
President Akufo-Addo has since asked the GJA to brief the Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who was present at the meeting, on the project for it to be properly tabled before government for consideration.
He promised to give all other issues the neccesary attention.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent