‘GBC Must Sustain Its Position’

The Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), Mr Paul Adu-Gyamfi, has inaugurated the Board of Directors of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and charged the members to sustain the corporation as the pacesetter and pivot around which sound electronic broadcasting revolves.

“This then requires dialogue on the current state of the organisation within the context of international best practices on public service broadcasting. We need to re-examine the governance question of mandate, the management issues of funding and the increasing competition in the industry. This may require reviewing the existing legislation on GBC,” he said.

Speaking at a short inaugural ceremony in Accra yesterday, Mr Adu-Gyamfi indicated that the outgoing board initiated processes to address the problems of GBC through collective effort, commitment and sacrifice to achieve the current state of the corporation and urged the new board to continue with the good work.

The board is chaired by the Rt Rev Dr Asante-Antwi. The other members are Mr A. K. Bonney, Dr Audrey Gadzekpo, Mr Robert Ahomka Lindsay and Mrs Stella Amegashie. The rest are Mr Ben Batabe Assorow, Ms Georgette Francois, Mr K. Frimpong and Mr Yaw Owusu-Addo, the acting Director-General of the corporation.

Mr Adu-Gyamfi stated that the problems facing GBC would require the collective commitment of all stakeholders to address, adding that the celebration of the nation's Jubilee Year offered that rare opportunity and advised the board to utilise it.

The outgoing Chairman of the board and Omanhene of the Essikado Traditional Area in the Western Region, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, said stability and peace at the workers' front was necessary to achieve the GBC dream of being the broadcaster of choice and to reflect the Ghanaian dream, since without that the dream could not be achieved in the years ahead.

To the incoming board, he stated that “the dream can only be effected through industrial peace and I plead with the staff to maintain industrial peace for the new board to settle down and work”.

Nana Nketsia recounted a litany of impressive achievements during his term of office, explaining that on his assumption of office the corporation owed ¢25 billion in items such as accumulated welfare dues, artiste fees, electricity bills and Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) dues but it managed to clear that.

“Now I can walk away with a special pride that this corporation which had outstanding long service awards and retirement benefits of more than ¢2 billion has not only cleared the backlog but that retirement benefits are now processed and paid even before a member of staff proceeds on leave,” he added.

The Chairman of the new board, the Rt Rev Dr Asante-Antwi, accepted the task given it and urged members to work in peace to achieve greater heights, noting that the challenges facing them demanded full commitment and hard work.

He stressed the need for GBC, as the station of the nation, to create an image for itself by coming up with comprehensive programmes would tell the story of the Ghanaian dream.

The Rt Rev Dr Asante-Antwi pledged the board's support and co-operation to the management of GBC in bringing out the potential, integrity and orientation of the nation.

He pledged to work tirelessly with his colleagues to upgrade the training institutions of the corporation into a university college.

In a welcoming address, Mr Yaw Owusu-Addo thanked the previous board for bringing GBC that far and expressed the hope that the new board would work hard to enable Ghanaians to benefit from the services they paid for.

Story By Hilda Owusu