... POSITION ITSELF AS THE CHANNEL OF CHOICE

Media personnel in the country have been advised not to abuse the environment of the freedom of speech and expression created by the NPP Government. To this end, they have been tasked to endeavour to reach out to state officials for their reactions and government positions on issues raised in newspapers and airwaves.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Hon. Mrs. Oboshie Sai Cofie, made the appeal in an interview on one of her weekly media walkabouts which are gradually being institutionalized. She said should any media house encounter difficulties in getting through to a Minister, or any state official for any reaction or comment on news items, they should not hesitate to call on her Ministry for assistance.

This week’s tour, which began from Peace 104.3 Fm, also saw the Minister visit T.V Africa, the Pedestrian shopping Mall @ Circle, Citi 97.3 Fm, Hot 93.9 Fm, and Happy 98.9 Fm. She was accompanied by her Deputy, Hon. Frank Agyekum, Mrs. Catherine Afeku, (Government Spokesperson on Infrastructure) and some officers and staff of her Ministry. She congratulated the workers and management of Peace Fm, especially the Kokrokoo morning show crew, on their achievement as the most listened to Fm station in Ghana.

The Deputy Minister of Information National Orientation, Hon. Frank Agyekum pledged the commitment and support of the ministry for media activities. He called for peaceful co-existence among the listeners of radio programmes, even in the midst of divergent opinions. This is because leaders and front-liners of the various parties are themselves not at loggerheads with each other, but their healthy and interactive exchanges were all in the spirit of democracy.

At T.V Africa, Hon. Mrs. Sai Cofie was full of praise for owners, management, and staff of the station for Africanizing everything about them and assured them of government’s support.

The Minister and her entourage were quite disappointed when they got to the pedestrian shopping mall at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle. Most of the stalls were deserted, after all the monies sunk into the project; and the hawkers were back on the streets. This looked much unbelievable and disheartening because all the stalls, as confirmed by the traders, have been allocated.

Explaining why the situation was so, the traders around, led by their Chairman, Mr. Desmond Donkor, and their women’s Organizer, Perpetual Asante, noted that they were yearning for the commissioning of the market. They pledged their commitment to collaborate with the AMA task force to ensure that the streets are rid of hawkers so that the market is well patronized. They called on the authorities to prosecute all who will be arrested in the exercise and appealed for sheds F, G and H to be opened. They called on the AMA to adopt an open-door and friendly policy in dealing with them.

The Information and National Orientation Minister used the occasion to appeal to the traders to go back to the market. She said their continuous use of the market will make the streets unattractive to buyers, and hence sales at the mall will boom. She assured the traders that she will take up their concerns to the AMA for appropriate redress.

At Citi 97.3 Fm, the Minister said her outfit shared in the pride and honour the station had done the nation by winning the “Best Interactive Talk Show Award” in the whole of Africa.

When the team touched down at Hot 93.9 Fm, the Minister entreated journalists to churn out factual information to its listeners and readers. She advised D. J’s to be selective with the type and content of music played on our airwaves, especially the pornographic and indecent ones.

Happy 98.9 Fm happened to be her last stop on the day’s schedule. Speaking on the station’s mid-day news, she re-affirmed her ministry’s poise to make the outfit the “Channel of Choice for Information.”

She recognized that the station had emerged as a force on the media landscape and commended its innovative programmes; making special mention of its three consecutive times award winning Sports Programme.