The Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, has confirmed that the government has no plans to privatize the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), the country’s only public broadcaster.
As a result, he requested that the GBC workers disregard those rumors.
When he paid a working visit to the GBC headquarters in Accra, the Minister provided this assurance at a durbar organized by the organization.
The GBC workers had challenged the reason behind the government’s “plan to hand over GBC to private companies to handle,” portraying the supposed intention as unjust to GBC employees, including those who had been with the company for a long time, in the search to switch from analogue to digital.
The Minister stated that reforming GBC took a coordinated and collaborative approach from all stakeholders, not just the Minister or the Corporation’s Board Chairman.
Professor Amin Alhassan, Director-General of the GBC, claimed that only three of the GBC’s 23 local languages were successful, and only two of the Corporation’s eight studios were operational.
To be more effective, he said, GBC needs deliberate government action in key areas such as machinery procurement, energy payment, and financing for their long-service award scheme.
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Other representatives of the Public Service Broadcaster’s team advised the Minister to focus on securing long-term support for the Corporation during an encounter.
Others urged the government to represent their single spine in percentages in their salaries, as well as to implement a practical service scheme with precisely specified forms in which employees were supposed to operate.
They have demanded that steps be taken to encourage transparency, productivity, and proper remuneration for the Corporation’s employees.
“On the premise that the Corporation would not receive budget from the state, a [member of] staff will serve for ten years without being promoted. This destroys our spirit and prevents us from providing our best,” a member of the team said.
Mrs Cynthia Mamle Morrison, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Communications, stated that the Committee recognized the hard work and commitment of those working in state-owned media and was willing to assist the government in promoting their progress.
“However, I agree that everyone of you here must show positivity in order to improve GBC’s reputation such that it can be a fresh GBC by its 90th birthday,” she added.
SOURCE: ATLFMONLINE
