Kojo Oppong Nkrumah with ISD staff unveiling the new structure
Information Service Department (ISD), of the Ministry of Information, has unveiled its new organisational structure with a call on staff to embrace the new focus of the restructure in order to disseminate government policies effectively to the public in the phase of the new dynamics in the information landscape.
Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who unveiled the new organisational structure at the GNAT Hall in Accra yesterday, said ISD would be able to achieve its role with the new phase that is aimed at leading government communication.
He said, “Ghana today boast of over four hundred radio stations with over 100 television channels with millions of social media channels which broadcast information with immediate feedback. It stands to reason that the ISD of 1939 therefore need to adopt, refocus and to be restructured if it wants to meet the new dynamics of the Information landscape today.”
“The ISD, which evolved from an organisation established 80 years ago as part of the colonial government secretariat to convey news on the Second World War to the people of Gold Coast, need restructuring to reflect its new focus,” he added.
The mandate of the ISD is to assist the Ministry of Information by facilitating the ministry’s programmes, department and agencies as well as providing feedback to government on its programmes and policies.
Some of the new structures the minister mentioned include Research Division, assisted by the Ghana Statistics Service to train and equip the researchers across the 261 districts.
He said, to enable the researchers collect empirical data that reflects the views of Ghanaians on government policies and programmes, they have been provided with tablets and logistics.
Others include the Media Division tasked to create content out of government materials for distribution across the media houses.
The rest are Access to Information Division which has the mandate to train and deploy Right to Information officers to ministries, departments among others across the country, and Public Relations Division which is fully digitised, and Education Campaign Division responsible for outreach.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said all the divisions as part of the restructuring process are being resourced with logistics such as tablets, while staff are also undergoing training to enhance their digital skills while making them responsive to the needs of the departments and agencies of the Department of the Ministry of Information.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah