A 3-day training workshop aimed at building the capacities of frontline journalists in the area of investigative journalism on free movement and migration opened in Accra Tuesday September 19, 2017.

Mr. Samuel Dodoo, Executive Director of Media Response said the training will strengthen the capacities of frontline journalists to conduct investigative journalism on free movement and migration and enhance their ability to disseminate qualitative information and educate the public on ECOWAS free movement and migration.

Opening the workshop, the Hon. Minister for Information, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid urged participants to fully commit to the training objectives in order to acquire the requisite knowledge.

“My Ministry remains fully committed to the objectives of the training workshops on Investigative Journalism on Free Movement and Migration,” he said.

The Hon. Minister stated that the coming into force of the National Migration policy signified Government’s commitment towards ensuring that the country derived optimum benefits from the positive aspects of migration and minimize its negative consequences.

He further mentioned that the government would reintroduce the Media Fund to enable journalists obtain funding to build their capacity. He acknowledged the efforts of Media Response and its collaborative partners in championing this laudable initiative and commended ECOWAS and the European Union for their support.

In a statement read by Mr. Eric Akomanyi on behalf the Chief of Mission, the IOM reiterated its resolve to support stakeholders such as Media Response in implementing various interventions aimed at combating irregular migration, human trafficking and abuse of migrant rights.

President of the Ghana Journalists Association, Mr. Affail Monney cautioned journalists against sensationalism and urged them to “focus more on learning rather than feasting” in order to broaden their scope of knowledge.

Mr. Dominic Agyeman, Head of the Migration Unit, Ministry of the Interior expressed his Ministry’s appreciation of the efforts being put in by Media Response to bring the issues of migration to the doorsteps of the media and indirectly to the people of Ghana.

He said Ghana has remained on Tier 2 Watch List of the US Department of State Report on Trafficking in Persons for the third consecutive year, a situation which does not augur well for the country and for that matter, the Ministry of the Interior will continue to support media men and women in government’s efforts to redeem Ghana’s image.

The FMM West Africa Free Movement and Migration Project falls within the framework of the ‘Support to Free Movement of Persons and Migration in West Africa’ Project which is jointly funded by the ECOWAS Commission and the European Union and implemented in Ghana by Media Response.

Other regions to benefit from the training workshops on Investigative Journalism on Free Movement and Migration are the Western, Ashanti and Northern regions.