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02 DAILY QUOTE I always believe holidays strengthen the family bond, away from our daily hectic schedules — Chiranjeevi CONTENT ANNIVERSARIES Fri. Dec. 7 — Farmer’s Day Tues. Dec. 25 — Christmas Wed. Dec. 26 — Boxing Day DAILY HERITAGE MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2018 Published by: EIB Network / Heritage Communications Ltd. Managing Editor: William Asiedu: 0208156974 Editor: Kofi Enchill: 0265653335 ISSN: 0855-52307 VOL 7 Location: Meridian House (Starr FM) Ring Road. Box AD 676, Adabraka, Accra,Ghana. Telephone: +233-0302- 236051, 020-8156974 026-5653335 www.dailyheritage.com.gh Adverts/Mktg: Paul Ampong-Mensah 024-4360782 Fax: +233-0302-237156 Email: news@dailyheritagegh.com.gh heritagenewspaper@yahoo.co.uk FOREIGN Cameroun separatists 'blow up' military vehicle PG.04 ARTS & ENT I’ll apply brief experience at BBC — Serwaa Amihere PG.13 BUSINESS MTN Ghana dedicates 2019 to customers PG.10 SPORTS Black Stars players receive paltry $300 each PG.15 Outgone NMC chair scores himself 30% BY MUNTALLA INUSAH muntalla.inusah@dailyheritage.com.gh THE OUTGONE chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), Nana Kwasi Gyan-Appenteng, has, after examining his performance, scored himself 30%. According to him, assessing the state of the NMC before his administration took over three years ago and the current situation in the media landscape makes it difficult for him to score himself higher than that. Mr Gyan-Appenteng made this known at a ceremony for the swearing-in of 18 new members of the Commission performed by a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Julius Ansah, in Accra on Friday. “There will be time yet to analyse what we did in office or what we tried to do and what we achieved. There is time yet to do that and give a full account of our work. But as I leave this office, what is my own assessment of my work? Frankly, I won’t give myself more than 30% and even that could be more generous,” he stated. “Let us look at it this way. The mandate of the NMC is spelt out clearly in the constitution and the NMC Act. Now, we can find if we have improved the situation in any of our core mandate areas? “Have we improved the performance of our media in any way, shape or form over •Nana Kwasi Gyan-Appenteng, outgone NMC boss the period of our mandate? We would struggle to provide a positive answer to that one. We still have a vibrant media scene and today we are at number one on the RSF index on media freedom in Africa.” NMC structure is its biggest challenge According to him, “the main challenge of the NMC is not lack of resources but the very structure. I have had the occasion to make my view known in a recent lecture. “The biggest obstacle comes from the •Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo, new NMC boss very foundation of the Commission in the constitution and the NMC law. Currently, the NMC is made up of 18 part-time members, who are drawn from both state and non-state institutions. “This is probably the largest membership for regulatory bodies in Ghana and Africa. What is worse, there is no apparent logic for the selection of the constituent bodies. If there was any such logic, in the conditions of the late 1980s, today we must review this membership to make it relevant to the current media landscape,” he added. Members take salary but do not work The part-time members, he said, tend to be very busy people in their other lives, “as a result, some members of the NMC are unable to attend meetings all year, but receive the same salary as those who do. In any case, the NMC meets only once every two months, which is an improvement on the minimum of four meetings a year stipulated by the 1992 Constitution. “The committee system has broken down completely because members just failed to attend. Mr Chairman, this is not an indictment of members of the NMC. We all recognise that the system itself is inadequate for today’s purposes. “I think we all have our work cut out in this regard. We must join hands to fight for the root and branch reform of the NMC not only to bring it to a level of efficiency but today’s media landscape,” he explained. Regulate social media Justice Julius Ansah, swearing in the new NMC members, said the plurality of news websites; blogs and even podcast posed new and unforeseen challenges to the work of even the nimblest media regulatory body. “These include the menace of fake news that has bedevilled countries all over the globe, including ours. I urge you to devote time and attention to these new media forms and the forms of regulation that will • CONTINUE ON PAGE 3
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH DAILY HERITAGE MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2018 03 Ghanaians vote Dec 27 BY MOHAMMED AWAL THE ELECTORAL Commission (EC) has set aside the period December 2 to December 6 for the transfer of votes for the purposes of the referendums for the creation of new regions in the country. The referenda for the creation of the regions are slated for December 27, 2018. This comes after the Supreme Court dismissed the suit challenging the constitutionality of the government’s decision to create six new regions. The Minority in Parliament recently walked out of the lawmaking chamber during the adoption of the Constitutional Instrument for the creation of the regions. Addressing journalists last Friday in Accra, a Deputy Commission of the EC in charge of operations, Mr Samuel Tettey, said: “Transfer of votes for the referendum is from the second to the sixth of December. • For Oti Region, others • EC chairperson, Jean Mensa “So from the second to the sixth December, all applicants who, for one or two reasons, have actually relocated…that’s they have moved from one area to the other and would want to take part in the referendum will have the opportunity to go to the district office of the Electoral Commission to transfer his or her vote.” The same schedule, he added, applied to “proxy” voters. Agitations There has been massive agitation in the Volta Region over the exclusion of the southern part of the region in the referendum for the creation of Oti Region. The Asogli State, for instance, has called for the entire region to be allowed to vote in the referendum with its Agbogbomefia, who doubles as the President of the National House of Chiefs, Togbe Afede XIV, accusing the Commission of Enquiry set up to investigate the substantial demand for the creation of the new regions of doing a shoddy work. According to the Asogli State, it found the exclusion of the southern part of the region in the consultation process to create the region “worrisome” as the creation of the Oti Region would involve the alteration of the existing boundaries of the region. Also in the Northern Region, the Dagbon Traditional Council is rejecting the inclusion of the Chereponi district in the proposed North East Region. The Dagbon Centre for Leadership and Development (DCLD) said it was concerned by government’s unfazed attitude towards the decision by the Dagbon chiefs, the owners of the Chereponi area. Agitations needless President Nana Akufo-Addo described the agitations as unfounded and needless. Touching specifically on the Oti Region, he said throughout the history of Ghana, there had been the creation of new regions and in all those periods, the people affected were those who voted and not the entire area or region in question. “This Ghana that we have, we were not always ten (10) regions. Hundred years ago in the colonial period, we were three, the Gold Coast colony, the Ashanti Protectorate, and the Northern territories. “Subsequently, after the First World War, when the British took over some of the territories from the Germans in Togo, we then also got Trans Volta Togoland and we became four all the way until the mid-fifties when Eastern Region and Western Region were created out of the Gold Coast Colony so that we became six,” the President observed while addressing the chiefs and leaders of the Ketu South Traditional Council at the Jubilee House earlier this year. Outgone NMC chair scores himself 30% • READ FROM PAGE 2 promote freedom without compromising standards, decency and the security of the state. Doubtless, you will encounter legal and constitutional questions and I pledge the support of the judiciary in resolving these in a way that benefits the State and individuals the most.” Boadu-Ayeboafoh leads new 18-members The immediate past Director of Newspapers at the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Yaw Boadu- Ayeboafoh, was elected chairman of the NMC. He was elected at a meeting of the re-constituted Commission on Friday. He competed for the position with Mr Benedict Batabe Assorrow, a representative of the Christian community. The election went through two rounds with each candidate obtaining eight votes in the first round. The second round saw Mr Boadu- Ayeboafoh increasing his vote by one as against Mr Assorow's eight to win. Members of the NMC The members of the re-constituted Commission are Nii Addokwei Moffatt, representing Ghana Association of Writers, Rev. Dr Mrs Comfort Asare (National Council of Women and Development), Mr Yaw Buabeng Asamoah (Parliament), Mr Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi (Parliament), Mr Richard Mawuli Quashigah (Parliament), Mr William Orleans Oduro (Ghana Bar Association), Mr Prince Hari Crystal (Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association) and Nana Addo Gyau Akabisa II (Ghana National Association of Teachers). Others are Mr Roland Affail Monney (Ghana Journalists Association), Mr Bright Blewu (Ghana Journalists Association), Dr Andy Ofori-Birikorang (Training Institutions and Communicators), Joseph Debrah-Gyamfi (Trades Union Congress - Ghana), Hajj Muhammed Amir Kpakpo Addo (Muslim Group), Sir Benedict Batabe Assorow (Christian Group), Mr Elorm Edward Desewu (Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana) and Ms Elaine Sam (Institute of Public Relations of Ghana), Mr Yaw Boadu- Ayeboafoh (Office of President) and Mr Yaw Sarpong Boateng (Office of President). The key administrative staff members at the NMC Secretariat are Mr George Sarpong, Executive Secretary, Mr Alexander Katey Bannerman, Deputy Executive Secretary and Ms Paula Sanziri, an Administrative Officer.
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