You’re wrong, you shouldn’t be organizing capacity training for journos – Gov’t told

The decision by the government of Ghana to organize capacity enhancement programme for journalists has been questioned.

Deputy National Youth Oragnsier of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Edem Agbana who raised issues against the government being the organizer of this capacity enhancement programme, indicated that this has the propensity of compromising the journalists who are supposed to be neutral.

He believed that the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) should have been the organizers of such an event, not the government.

He was contributing to a discussion on the New Day show with Johnnie Hughes on TV3 Tuesday January 11 regarding the National Media Capacity Enhancement programme, a programme designed by the government through the Ministry of Information to provide training for some 250 journalists annually across the country.

The government should not be the organizer of this event, Agbana said.

He further asked the GJA to take up the issue of welfare of journalists seriously.

“The Ghana Journalists Association must sit-up on the issues of welfare of journalists. We need to have a whole conversation about the welfare of journalists,” he said.

Communications Director of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), George Ayisi, however believed that there was nothing wrong with the government organizing the programme.

“The government is supporting all institutions to thrive and the media is part so that is ok. That cannot take people from their jobs,” he said.

He however agreed with Agbana on the point that another body could have organised this programme.

“It would have been ideal if GJA had done it or the National Media Commission (NMC),” he said.