The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Mr. Sulemana Braimah, has shared his perspective on the President’s recent engagement with the media.
The encounter was meant to provide journalists with a direct opportunity to question the President on his policy interventions, his “Resetting Ghana Agenda” and a range of urgent national issues.
“Generally, the president did quite well, there were 25 questioners who asked a total of 31 questions and the president tried to touch on all of them” he said in his assessment.
However, Mr. Braimah expressed dissatisfaction with the President’s response on the issue of galamsey (illegal small-scale mining), noting that it lacked the depth and command demonstrated in his answers concerning the cedi’s appreciation and depreciation despite his non-economic background.
He elaborated on a potential solution, stating, “If it can be well managed, the people who are engaged in galamsey now, can transition into regularized, legal, and supervised mining. The Gold Board would still receive the same quantity of gold it currently buys, and the economic benefits would remain, all while we preserve the environment for future generations.”
Despite outlining this managed approach, Mr. Braimah firmly concluded that the destructive practice is not an “either or” situation and must be stopped.
Another point of critique was the President’s lengthy preliminary comments, which Mr. Braimah identified as a low point in the event’s format. These remarks consumed approximately 22% of the total time. He suggested that this time would have been better allotted to the journalists, allowing them to pose a greater number of questions.
In his assessment of the media’s performance, Mr. Braimah viewed the session as an improvement over past encounters, praising the quality and relevance of the questions asked by the journalists.
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Source: Deborah Obenewaa Kwapong/ATLFMNEWS
