Takoradi, June 24, GNA- Mr. Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary aspirant for Takoradi constituency, said the media should be adequately resourced to enable practitioners to carry out their mandate.

He said that the media's role was crucial to the survival and consolidation of democracy in the country.

Mr. Darko-Mensah said these during a familiarisation tour of the Western Regional Press Centre of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) on Monday in Takoradi.

The NPP parliamentary aspirant said he was committed to winning the Takoradi seat in the 2008 Election and pledged to work closely with the media to achieve his aim.

Mr. Darko-Mensah appealed to the media to ensure fair coverage for all political parties that would be participating in the polls. Mr. George A. Naykene, Western Regional chairman of the GJA, commended Mr. Darko-Mensah for visiting the centre and assured the public that the facility would be made available to all lovers of democracy.

He said the centre needed furniture, air-conditioning and communication equipment to make it sufficiently resourced.

Mr. Naykene appealed to political parties to give prior notice to the media about their programmes to enable journalists to satisfactorily cover political activities.

"Invitations to programmes at short notices sometimes created problems for the various media personnel", he said.

At a meeting with the youth at Takoradi on Sunday, Mr. Darko-Mensah appealed to young people to take up leadership positions to enable them to contribute meaningfully to national development in the future He noted that leadership was a learning process and the youth should be made to take part in the decision-making processes to prepare them for the future.

Mr. Darko-Mensah urged the youth to take their education seriously since it formed the foundation for national development. He said with the discovery of oil in the country, it would be necessary for all tertiary institutions in the country to introduce petrol-chemical engineering and its related courses in their academic programmes.