*********************************************** Akosombo (Eastern Region) 19 March ?99

Mr John Mahama, Minister of Communications, on Wednesday said the commercialisation of Ghana News Agency (GNA) and Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) will help them grow to accept modern realities.

"They still have a lot of problems to be solved. We must prepare them well for the journey by revamping them. We surely can't say goodbye when we know they are too young to survive". Mr Mahama told delegates attending the on-going workshop on Government Re-invention: "We fully support it. But how quick and at what stage are we going to fully commercialise them?" He said Ghana News Agency needs a virtually new technical base, straighten its managerial strategy and endeavour to take advantage of emerging information technology to win back its premiership in information collection and distribution. "Their monopoly on foreign news has been broken by the advent of the Internet but could be strengthened to use the Internet to make money in one way or the other". Government is of the view it could still have all its programmes aired on GBC waves if it kept the 12.5 billion cedis given to it as annual subvention, he said. "We want to be seen not interfering with the operations of GBC, so that they could expand and make savings for themselves." Mr Mahama said television licence fees, over which it is now being argued that GBC should not have monopoly, is being reviewed. Very soon, anyone, who purchases a television set would have to buy a licence, whose value is comparable to the set's life span. "The money will then be put into a Broadcasting Development Fund that will promote broadcasting in the country. Dr Cletus Doduonoo, a lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), said arguments presented to justify the commercialisation of the GNA and GBC are shallow. He said there is a lot for reflection, especially the history behind the institutions, before tampering with them. Dr Doduonoo said the form of commercialisation and the risks associated with survival should be considered seriously. "Are we saying money should overrule social services? And how will a citizen of Bawku hear anything about his town if GNA is to focus on the search for money?" "We are rushing into something we do not know yet," he added. Mr Emmanuel Ashare Sai, Chairman of the Public Service Commission, opined that risks associated with the commercialisation of GNA and GBC will not be too high, as the Ministry of Communications is capable of giving out guidelines that will put them on track. The time has come for all and sundry to accept the fact that without sacrifices, Vision 2020 cannot achieve its objectives.