Accra, July 29, GNA - Mr. Steven Asamoah-Boateng, Minister of Information and National Orientation, on Tuesday acknowledged the prominence of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in news gathering and reporting and assured the staff of incentive packages before the political seasons ended.

"GNA is prominent in all the districts across the country - They are always the first to pick up the news at the district level. GNA is very important to the Ministry.

"I believe that motivation is cardinal to the performance of all public servants like you and I promise to deliver some incentive packages over the five months period left for me to leave office as minister," he said.

Mr. Asamoah-Boateng made the promise during an interaction with staff of the GNA, when he paid a visit to the head office of the Agency in Accra.

The Minister was with his deputy Mr. Frank Agyekum, a former editorial staff member of GNA and the Chief Director of the MINO. The visit took him to the various departments within the agency. He noted that GNA was at the forefront of new gathering in the country, saying that everywhere he went in the country he met GNA reporters and they were usually the first to file stories to the world-wide web and to other media houses. He particularly praised GNA reporters Dzifah Azumah and Hannah Asomaning for their exception performance on separate occasions he had worked with them.

"Dzifah did brilliant articles for me at the Ministry of Local Government whiles I was there as Minister and Hannah proved her qualities on a visit to China with me - she files a story to tell the public what the conference in China was all about and that went very wide across the world on the internet," he said.

Mr. Asamoah-Boateng said the excellent performance of GNA reporters he had met was an indication to him that excellence was the hallmark of all GNA reporters and for that he would not hesitate to ensure that the staff were well motivated.

On the issue of salaries, the Minister assured GNA staff that he was willing to approve of newly proposed salaries for GNA staff, but the final approval to warrant payment rested with the Ministry of Finance. "I will do my best to work with the Ministry of Finance to ensure that your proposals go through," he promised.

Mr. Asamoah-Boateng also praised the GNA for the initiative in putting news headlines on a digital display at the entrance of the GNA edifice to inform the public, and asked the management to explore avenues to make money with such facilities. "You have to find ways of making extra money for the Agency because government money is not easy to come by," he said. He complained about the state of the front desk, newsroom and library of GNA and asked the management to submit an invoice for a facelift of those departments. The Minister also charged the library staff to collate all newspapers from 1957 as the library had newspapers only dating back to 1974.

Mr. Asamoah-Boateng expressed his pleasure in the newly refurbished investment made in them under the National Reform Programme. Nana Appau Dua, General Manager of GNA assured the Minister that, Also in attendance were the board members of the Agency. 29 July 08