RTP Awards: Media Discrimination Against The North And National Development

It came to pass as it was expected by many – a successful Radio and Television personality (RTP) awards- to award hardworking media professionals and organizations in the country. “Yes, it was successful”. However, as with many events dedicated to awarding people, there cannot be a measure of success without reviewing the event and most importantly, what transpired at the awards ceremony.

As Ghanaians, there are certain characteristics that cannot be taken away from us; it certainly makes us who we are. Such behavior is highly predictable. For instance, can there be an election year in Ghana without “men of god” or “prophets” (whether true or false) prophesying or predicting the winner of the elections? Or the most hilarious of all (to me), where an incumbent government accuses opposition parties of rigging or trying to rig elections? Never! So it is with award schemes. There would always be controversy; people would always have issues with awardees or the event organizer. I humbly request your deepest attention and most objective scrutiny of the issues presented here as I make a case on the just ended RTP awards.

You may be tempted to prejudice this article- yes, you have every right to do so. You may even be thinking I’ve a problem or disagreement with the recipients of the awards. No! Not at all. Indeed, let me congratulate one of my favorite newscasters, Dzifa Bampoe of Joy fm, other winners and the organizers of the RTP awards for the awards scheme. God bless you all.

It is a feather in our cap as a Nation that we recognize the immense contribution the media makes towards the development of Ghana. For a nation to have at least two major award schemes (GJA and RTP awards) for media professionals and organizations is worth commending. It is a sign of a strong media framework in Ghana.

Now let me address the main purpose of this article. I want to deviate from the usual controversy about who deserved an award and who did not. I rather want to bring to your attention an issue I find strange and highly discriminatory of us, as a nation and media practitioners. I will be straight forward to drive home my points.

I found it very discriminatory and backward when I read on peacefmonline.com that media professionals in the Upper West, Upper East and the Northern regions were boxed into one category and awarded as “best radio personality, Northern sector” at the just ended RTP awards held in Accra. What is the geographical definition of the northern sector by the organizers of the RTP awards? I’m sure this is in reference to the Upper West, Upper East and the Northern regions.

The questions I’m asking if such a category is not discriminatory are; 1. Why should you award 7 personalities in 7 regions in the country independently and merge three regions together as one sector-Northern sector? Don’t the three regions classified as northern sector qualify as independent regions just as the others? And if there is a “Northern sector” shouldn’t there be a southern sector and probably eastern and western sectors? There could even be a middle sector? Wouldn’t that have been a fair categorization of the award categories for the regions?

So why did the award organizers classify these three regions as such? Well, I’m just an outsider and don’t know their “very good” reason for such discriminatory category.

But my issue here is that, Ghana as a nation is struggling to bridge the gap between the North and the South, therefore, treating all the 10 regions equally in some instance (such as the RTP awards) will go a long way to help achieve this development goal.

Awarding media professionals in the three regions of the north just as the others will go a long way to help build pride and prestige in the media in these regions. It will also motivate the media and encourage healthy competition and serve as a catalyst for the media and its professionals to up their game.

The instance where the public must vote to select the best radio personality for three regions, where radio broadcast in one region does not cross boarder to another, reduces the credibility of the award or the winner.

Having lived in the Northern and Upper West regions for 9 years, I can confidently say that the Northern region (specifically Tamale) will always win this award category should it be maintained next year and in subsequent years. The reason is that there are more people, more educated elites and more people with the financial strength who listen to radio in Northern region who will vote than in the Upper West and Upper East regions.

If Ghana recognized decentralization as a catalyst for development, created 3 regions out of the former Northern region ( which included now Northern , Upper East and Upper West regions), why then do we return to something we found to be backward about 20 years ago?

Africa has always criticized and chastised the western media of their poor reportage about the continent. We are yet to forgive the western media for their continuous negative stories about Africa. But how different is the issue under discussion in this article from the western media reportage on Africa when the media in Ghana shuts its mouths, hide its pen and pretend to ignore the same unfair coverage we complain about. And we’re now the perpetrators of this same error. We are internally discriminating against three regions of our own and expect the outside world to treat us well.

The category “best radio personality, Northern sector” sends a silent message to people who have no or little knowledge of the media industry in the Upper East, Upper West and Northern regions. What is this message? One may think the three regions mentioned above are opened to the same radio broadcasting system. In other words, it sounds as if Kwabena Ntow ( the winner of that award category) and his radio station (filla fm) in Tamale, is listened to by residents in the Upper West and Upper East which is not so.

The potential questions that may bother on the minds of some people as a result of this category are; how many radio stations are there in these three regions? Do residents listen to the same radio stations? Just to clarify a potential misconception in the minds of readers, the Upper West region alone can boast of about 11 radio stations.

I believe someone is asking “what has this got to do with you? Dzi wo fie asem” which is transliterated eat your home affairs” (but simply means mind your own business). Seriously, I’m eating my home affairs. You may say I’m not a northerner. But I’m a Ghanaian first; my tribe or ethnic background is secondary. And after all, what is good for the goose is equally good for the gander. Our own words as Ghanaians could even be a cause of the underdevelopment of the three regions of the north.

Every Ghanaian is culpable of this discrimination against the three regions of the north just as the RTP awards scheme. Tell me if you have never said “the three northern regions” after making a list of the 7 regions and mentioning them independently before. We are all guilty. The time has come for us to renew our minds and attitude towards our country, with a common agenda – Ghana first, fair and equal treatment of all citizens regardless of one’s location or ethnic background.

As King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 12:11, “of making many books there is no end and much study wearies the body”, I would end here with a passionate appeal for a fair and equitable treatment of all regions and people of Ghana. I hope the concerns raised here would be addressed by the appropriate quarters in subsequent years.

Ajaah la bila!! “That’s all”. Barika.

Emmanuel Ennin ( [email protected] ), 0540371935

The writer is a journalist with Radio Progress in the Upper West region.