Diaspora News of Monday, 23 February 2004

Source: Ibrahim Daara Sannie

Journalist Appointed Lecturer at top UK University

The impact of Ghanaian journalists around the world is growing by the day. It comes as no surprise that Theophilus Kofi Gokah, a former radio producer at Ghana Broadcasting Corporation has been appointed lecturer at Cardiff University,one of Britain's leading research universities.

The former radio producer was appointed last month immediately after completing his PhD at the same University where he researched on: ?Children?s Welfare Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa.? Cardiff's status as one of Britain's leading research universities was recognised in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise, an independent government assessment of the quality of university research. This places it 7th in a ranking of 106 universities in the UK.

Gokah accepted the offer last month and has started teaching Masters students, Development Communication. Speaking to GHANAWEB on his appointment in Cardiff, Gokah said ?I see my appointment not only in terms opportunities but delighted that many of his tutees are Africans seeking knowledge to improve themselves and their country. Many more journalists and communicators will benefit from the theory and practice of they have learnt to challenge development problems facing their countries and the continent as a whole?.

His expertise is mostly utilised by the Child Development Foundation in Uganda, one of the countries where he researches.

Gokah has trained in various capacities in development related fields including training at the Radio Netherlands Training School. After training at the UNFPA Training Centre for African Communicators in Nairobi, Kenya he taught on the UNFPA / GIJ Population Communication course for African Journalists.

Prior to his studies in the United Kingdom, his immense knowledge in the field of journalism was recognised by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA). In 1995 he won the Best Radio Feature award and in 1999 he was again rewarded for his contribution to radio features during the GJA Golden Jubilee celebrations. He also corresponded for Radio Deutsche Welle.