Koforidua, June 17, GNA - Mrs Gifty Ohene-Konadu, Deputy Minister of Trade Industry and President's Special Initiative (PSI), on Monday commended the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) for the noble initiative it had embarked upon to champion the concerns of private sector businesses to ensure it operated in the needed conducive environment.

She said in spite of the competing issues especially politics and sports, the GJA had chosen such an agenda that more or less was the bane of the socio-economic development of Ghana and dear to the Government. Giving the key note address at the opening of a three-day training workshop in business advocacy for media practitioners, Mrs Ohene Konadu observed that the Government needed the feedback of the people on its policies therefore the move by the GJA was a step in the right direction.

To her the GJA business advocacy showed that the organization had redefined its role as well as relevance to national development and called for the institution of a GJA national award in the category of best small business reporting to further deepen their commitment to the private sector development. She indicated that as a result of the GJA business advocacy programme, the restructuring of the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) would include an advocacy desk to empower members of the private sector to do their own advocacy.

Mrs Joyce Lamptey, Vice President of the Association of Small Scale Industries (ASSI), also corroborated the view of the Minister that the media had now realized the need to help the small and medium enterprises since they were a powerful medium and commended them. According to her the attention by the GJA on the challenges and problems facing the private sector indicated to them that their problems were already solved "because now I know that focus will not be on the policy makers but rather on our concerns for redress" she said. Mr Bright Blewu, General Secretary of the GJA, said the project was a GJA, Busac Fund and KAB Governance Consult collaboration to address the concerns of the private sector's operation in the framework of government policies through dialogue.

He explained that the three-day workshop was meant to build the capacity of a core team of journalists in business advocacy to promote dialogue between policymakers, media and the public sector. Mr Kwasi Afriyie Badu, Chief Executive Officer of KAB Governance Consult, said the project would build the competencies of the media through the various training to ensure sustainability of the project. He said GJA recognized that private business development was a challenge to poverty eradication and democratic dispensation because "hungry people do not appreciate democracy".

Mr Badu indicated that apart from the challenges of the private sector, the core media would also be trained to understand the policy-making process to reconcile the two for the benefit of the sector and expressed the hope that participants would in return attach importance to the training. He announced that to sustain the project and to show the importance attached to it by the GJA a token of Gh100 cedis had been instituted for the best private business reporting that highlighted the problem and response of the policymakers. 17 June 08