The National Media Commission (NMC) has, in consultation with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, appointed development communication expert, Prof. Amin Alhassan, as the new Director-General for the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.

The commission has in accordance with the 1992 Constitution also appointed multiple award-winning sales leader, Frederick Amissah as the new Managing Director of the New Times Corporation.

Ghana Broadcasting Corporation

Prof. Alhassan takes over from Augustus Yamson who had been acting as the Director-General for the state corporation for some time now.

Prof. Alhassan, previously worked with GBC Radio News, and the Ghana News Agency after graduating from the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ).

He holds Masters and Doctoral degrees in Communication Studies from Tampere University in Finland and Concordia University in Montreal.

Prof. Alhassan is currently the Principal of the Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies.

He has taught at universities in Finland, United States, Canada and other international schools.

Prof. Alhasan joined the University for Development Studies, Nyankpala Campus as Foundation Dean for the Faculty of Agribusiness and Communication Sciences where he led a team of faculty to introduce Communication programmes at the Diploma and Degree levels.

He has served and represented UDS in various capacities, including serving for two terms as UDS Governing Council Member. Between May 2016 and February 2017, he was appointed Chairman of an Interim Management Committee (IMC) to restore order at Wa Polytechnic following a protracted administrative and labour crisis in the school.

Prof. Alhassan has consulted for a number of local and international development organizations including USAID, CIDA and DfID. He is also a founding member of the Communication Educators Association of Ghana (CEAG).

He has authored and edited three books and several peer-reviewed book chapters and journal articles in Journalism, Mass Communication and Development Studies.

GTV Govern scandal

Prof. Alhassan’s appointment comes at a time when the 2018 Auditor’s General implicated GBC in a deal which saw the state broadcaster give up one of its channels, GTV Govern, to a privately-owned company to manage.

While the workers claimed the channel had been sold, GBC management rejected that and claimed the channel has been given to the private company to operate a local television station for a period in a bid to rake in revenue for GBC.

GBC claimed the government was informed about the deal but the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said the government was surprised about any such deal, saying “It comes as a surprise to government”.

But the management of GBC led by then acting Director-General, Augustus Yamson, contradicted the government’s position that it did not know about the deal.

The NMC eventually suspended the deal, but there are still ongoing investigations to dig into the matter.

New Times Corporation

Until his appointment, Mr. Amissah was the immediate past Country Director of Herbalife Nutrition Ghana Limited working with major international companies including British American Tobacco, Diageo – Guinness Ghana Breweries, Coca Cola Bottling Company, Globacom and Herbalife Nutrition of Ghana in different capacities.

He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agriculture from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, a Master’s Degree in Business Administration – Marketing from Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), and a Diploma in Strategic Marketing Management from the Institute of Commercial Management, UK.

Mr. Amissah is a member of CIMG, Project Management Institute and the Young African Leaders Initiative Network (YALI).

He was inducted into the West African Nobles Forum WANF as an eminent West African when he won the CEO magazine’s Titan-Building Nation’s awards at both the Country and West African Regional levels.