By Dr. Frankie Asare-Donkoh
A little over two scores ago when I was in primary school in my holy city of Breman Asikuma, I developed interest in current affairs. I used to read every newspaper and magazine I laid my hands on. I always tried not to miss any of the GBC (Ghana Broadcasting Corporation) Two major news bulletins (at 6 a.m., 7 a.m., 1 p.m. and 6 p.m).
When in those days it was difficult for people like us from poor families to even get what to eat before and after school, I still managed to make some little savings to buy the Daily Graphic quite regularly, and at the weekends the Sunday Mirror (as it used to be called then) and the Weekly Spectator. Perhaps it was no co-incidence that I later worked at Daily Graphic most part of the over 20 years I have been a journalist.
In fact in those years almost every newspaper was referred to as “Graphic” especially by most rural people, many of whom were illiterate. However, my choice of the Graphic was not based on any other reason rather than lack of adequate funds to buy the Ghanaian Times in addition. What I therefore did was to regularly visit two of my close friends whose parents were senior public servants in town who ‘subscribed’ all the papers.
The only person who sold newspapers then, was Opany
in Kojo Akomanyi, who incidentally is the only person still selling newspapers at Breman Asikuma. In those days there were two groups of buyers of newspapers. The first was the ‘Subscribers’; that is, those who bought them every day and for that matter their copies were reserved first before the rest were sold to the other group – the occasional buyers.
The parents of these my friends were subscribers so any time I was not able to buy the Graphic I had to read it from their house. Again, I went there regularly to see the ‘Kong’ cartoons in the Ghanaian Times. Usually most of the stories in the Graphic were in the Times so I usually did not bother to read the news pages of the Times apart from the Kong cartoon series which I never missed. Alternatively, when I laid hands first on the Times I did not read the Graphic.
I got so used to the GBC news bulletins that it became so easy for me to identify the voices of Vida Koranteng Asante, Harriet Tachie Menson, John Hammond, Edward Farkye, Gertrude Opare Addo and the rest of the fine news readers of the time. Later, as I grew up I added to my list the voices of Beatrice Aidoo, Lucy Banini, Daniel Adjei, Mercy Sowah, Komivi Ameko, Ellen Avorgbedor, Lily Derfor, Akosua Yamoah and Isaac Anthony, among others. These were very excellent news readers that one would always like to listen to.
My love for the Sunday Mirror and the Weekly Spectator was influenced by two writers, Adwoa Yeboah Afari’s “Thoughts of a Native Daughter” column in the Mirror and “Baafuor” in the Spectator. For Adwoa, I even kept in my photo albums her portrait which accompanied the column. For Baafuor, it became a topic each time my friends and I met to play, especially during our Middle School days.
Adwoa’s incisive thoughts were never to be missed while Baafuor and his adventures with Sister Akosua and her friends, and Baafuor’s own friends at the palm wine bars clearly depicted the typical rural life. The other attraction of Baafuor is his excellent writing style. Believe it or not this column still runs.
But it seems those good days when we had excellent journalism and news reading are completely gone. These days it is regrettable to note that many of our newsreaders lack that excellence, dexterity and the finesse with which the Vida Koranteng Asantes, Harriet Tachie Mensons and the John Hammonds displayed behind their microphones, while laziness and unwillingness to learn are leading to poor journalism among some journalists. Standards are really falling and falling too fast!
Currently, we can boast of a crop of newsreaders whom we can be proud of. However, there are others who never learnt to crawl before started running and therefore do not provide the pleasure with which people used to listen to news. Though we can count many newsreaders at GBC Radio, GTV, TV3, Metro TV and the many FM radio stations, the very good ones are very few. The reason for this might be that a lot of them had not undergone any serious training before being handed the microphones. The other big problem is complacency.
For instance, we have very good newsreaders at GTV and GBC Radio, but regrettably some of them have become too complacent to the extent that in recent times they commit a lot of mistakes while on air. After having the district assemblies since 1988, it becomes worrisome when Ghanaian newsreaders still cannot pronounce names of some districts or district capitals properly, yet they take pride in correctly pronouncing places like Pyongyang. This is regrettable, for which the GBC in particular and the rest of the electronic media must be concerned.
My biggest worry however, is with the Akan newsreaders of the various FM stations. As if their managements and News Editors have gone to sleep and left them to do their own things on air, most of the Akan newsreaders of the FM stations read news as if they were in a proverbs competition or performing a comedy. The common practice is that news bulletins are turned into a battle of which reader knows more proverbs or which of them is a good comedian.
The most disturbing aspect of this latest unacceptable practice is that in most cases the proverbs which are used to precede news items are completely unrelated to the news items. What our Akan newsreaders must note is that news is nothing but news and the duty of the newsreader is to read it without any embellishments.
I never used to listen to vernacular news on any regular basis, but when I was young there were times I chanced to listen to Amankwaa Ampofo reading the Akan news, and I can tell you, dear reader, it was lovely to listen to him at 6.30 a.m. or p.m. in his perfect and infatuating Akuapen Twi. Surely those days are gone and now we are bombarded with news items rapped with comedy and unnecessary proverbs many of them even inciting passions.
Managements of our FM stations need to sit up and get their newsreaders properly trained in news reading as well as the ethics of the journalism profession as far as news presentation is concerned.
The deterioration of news presentation is not limited to the electronic media alone as the print media have also tended to overlook some basic professional techniques. The layout of most private newspapers leave much to be desired, while editing and proofreading are messy. Stories in some newspapers are either not well researched, badly written or go with unrelated headlines. A headline in the Daily Guide of June 25 (page 3) read: “Iman kills wife” instead of ‘Imam ...’.
The same paper had “Boy shot dead...over sugarcane” on the front page of its June 28, 2008 issue but the only closeness of the story to the headline was that the boy was shot in a sugarcane farm and not that he was shot either while stealing or taking sugarcane, thus sharply contrasting the headline.
The Dispatch of June 9, 2008 had a front page story with this headline: “SFO indicts top Govt official for ‘chopping’ $208,000”, accompanied by the picture of then Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Joe Ghartey. Strangely, the story did not mention the minister or link him even remotely to the alleged ‘chopping’. The story was rather about a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Development Studies, Prof. John B. K. Kaburise. So why “top government official” instead of a former Vice Chancellor? The answer might be obvious: “Government Official” sells more than “former Vice Chancellor”. But is this ethical?
The Ghanaian Chronicle on June 19, 2008 used a picture of Prof. Atta Mills on page 2 with the caption: “Aspiring Presidential Candidate of the NDC, Prof. Evans Atta Mills....” though Prof. Mills was then not an aspiring candidate but already a candidate. This was pure poor proofreading.
Not even the Daily Graphic is uninfected with the bug of complacency to the extent that occasionally you find poor proofreading, headlines with unrelated stories and misplacement of priorities in terms of selection and placement of news or pictures. For instance, on May 12, 2008 a headline at page 14 of the paper read “71 Police recruits passout” instead of ‘pass out’. That was poor proofreading.
The Graphic again on June 18, 2008 used a picture of one of its reporters and the Corporate Affairs Manager of Fintrade Group on its front page instead of one of the two more catchy pictures, one hidden at page 20 showing people of the newly created Akyemmansa District at the People’s Assembly where one disable person was in the long queue awaiting his turn to express a view. That showed how deep democracy was getting at the grassroots level. The other picture was on the back page about the inauguration of the Automatic Voltage Regulator at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital which was to support the hospital’s Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan machine. By the way, what was the story being told by the prosaic picture of the reporter and the Fintrade official?
And on the back page of the Graphic of July 7, 2008 was this headline: “Emotional exit for Olympics”. But strangely the accompanying story did not mention anything showing the emotions of Olympics players or supporters, neither was there a picture to show that.
The Graphic also got it all wrong on July 17, 2008, when it ignored the biggest story of the day, the launching of the “Zoom Captains”, but rather used as its front page lead the story about the visit to the paper’s offices by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) as well as the IGP’s picture on the front page. With all due respect to my colleagues and bosses at Graphic, the ‘Zoom Captains’ story which the paper buried at page 53 was the news and not the IGP’s visit to the Graphic Offices. What was news about the IGP at Graphic offices apart from publicising himself?
The fact that female street sweepers and cleaners who hitherto had no meaningful qualifications had within only six months been transformed by Zoom Lion Company into operators of heavy-duty machinery including excavators, rollers and tipper trucks was the biggest news of the day.
The paper’s editorial on the same day was on the Zoom Captains, describing the launching of the captains as “a major landmark event to further empower women in the country and boost affirmative action”. Therefore how can a major landmark event be buried while the huge picture of the IGP was splashed on the paper’s front page with a false alarm that “Police Alert to fight crime”, when there was no new message in the story showing any new alertness apart from what everybody knows? In fact, there was no “alert” in that story as the IGP did not say anything new apart from what was already known by many of us. That was a clear misjudgement on the selection and placement of the two stories.
On the quality of the newspaper, Graphic has at times produced poor quality. For instance, on page 53 of the June 30, 2008 issue almost all the pictures there were of poor print quality with that of then President Kufuor and His Beatitude Theodoros II barely legible. The same picture was excellent in the same day’s issue of the Daily Guide except that the Guide was the only paper who got the name of Theodoros wrong (spelt Theororos) both in the caption and the main accompanying story.
Considering the excellent picture quality on the front page of the Graphic of June 9, 2008 on the Ghana Consolidated People’s Party’s (GCPP) Kumasi congress, and also the superb pictures on the spread of the June 11 issue of the paper, one wonders what goes at times where the general quality of the paper becomes poor. The management of Graphic does not need anybody to remind it that the paper, is the pacesetter of Ghana’s newspaper industry, and therefore any little shortcoming becomes magnified.
Graphic’s sister paper, The Mirror, on June 28, 2008 put a picture of Azumah Nelson and a lady on its front page without any description (either in a caption or in the main story) as to who that lady was. The paper perhaps assumed that every reader should at all cost know who that lady was.
The Enquirer of Monday, July 21, 2008 carried a story on page 8 headlined: “Vodafone begs Parliament”. The first paragraph of the story talked about Vodafone’s frustration over “the inability of Parliament to ratify the sale of Ghana Telecom”. In paragraph 2, the paper wrote that “the deal as it stands now has been suspended indefinitely”, but went on in paragraph 5 to write that “whiles the government maintains 30% interest in Ghana Telecom it has sold 70% shares ...to Vodafone. The next paragraph also went: “Vodafone has acquired a 70% stake in GT...
How can the Enquirer report that the deal “has been suspended indefinitely”, and yet it says in another paragraph of the same story that “government has sold 70 per cent shares”, and that “Vodafone has acquired a 70 per cent stake in GT”? And there was nowhere in the story indicating that Vodafone was begging Parliament. This was a clear example of lazy, unethical and unprofessional journalism.
With the liberated media environment, it is the hope of many that the quality of the Ghanaian media will improve, and indeed we can talk about some level of improvements in all aspects of the media. Regrettably, however, it seems complacency has taken over and thus leading to mediocrity on the part of some media houses and some journalists. Though it seems too early to expect miracles from the Ghanaian media judging from the way various governments had treated them in the past and muzzled them, one still have the feeling that more professionalism in all aspects of the industry must be the yardstick. One is therefore awaiting the time when most newspapers will be of high quality both in terms of news content, layout and print quality. And we are also awaiting a return to the good old days where people will clamour to their radio and TV sets to listen to “And here is the news... - fasado@hotmail.com or My Blog @ http://asaredee.blogspot.com
PS: The original version of this article was given to Daily Graphic in 2008 but after it was set and ready to be printed somebody in the newsroom felt since the article criticises the paper there was no way it could appear in it, so it was dropped.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Presidential Transition Bill in Parliament
By Jeorge Wilson KINGSON
A bill to establish arrangements in practice for the political transfer of administration from one democratically elected President to another, to provide for the regulation of the political transfer of power and for related matters has been laid before parliament.
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, presented the bill to the House last week, in accordance with the relevance regulations of the 1992 constitution and the standing orders of the House, following which House Speaker Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo referred it to the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs for consideration and report.
The bill was initiated by the four political parties with representations in parliament within the framework of the Institute of Economic Affairs-sponsored Ghana Political Programme, namely the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the People’s National Convention (PNC) and the Convention People’s Party (CPP).
The presentation of the bill is against the backdrop that the stability achieved so far in Ghana in the practice of multi-party democracy over the past 16 years during which time two sitting governments were changed peacefully has made it compelling for the country to find ways to improve the process associated with the multiparty democratic governance system.
This is to be regulated by law to ensure the shared experience and arrangements for the transfer of government.
The bill provides for the appointment of a transitional team, made up of representatives, in equal numbers, of the incumbent President and of the person elected as President, with the heads of certain public establishments.
Out of this team sub-teams, including an inauguration sub-team, a government machinery sub-team and a presidency sub-team, which the transitional team considers relevant for the performance of the functions of the team will be set up.
The function of the transitional team is designed to cover two key subjects which have proved to be controversial in the two precedent setting years, 2001 and 2009.
These are the arrangements for the transfer of political power from the outgoing to the incoming government at the national, regional and district levels, as well as the handing over of all official assets and properties, and arrangements to ensure prompt implementation of the decisions on salaries, allowances, facilities, privileges and retiring benefits or rewards, as determined respectively by the President and Parliament on the basis of the recommendations made by the committee appointed in accordance with Article 71 of the constitution.
The bill places an obligation on the team to meet within 48 hours of the declaration of the results of the Presidential elections and the winner of the elections with subsequent meetings being convened by the co-chairpersons. It also deals with handing over notes.
“The Office of the President is to prepare a set of comprehensive handing over notes covering the terms of office of the President as the Executive Authority under Article 58 of the constitution,” the memorandum to the bill stated.
The bill also mandates the Administrator–General to make available to the President-elect the original copies of handing over notes, retain a copy and send a copy each to the Speaker of Parliament and the Chief Justice, as persons who are in the line of succession to the Presidency in case of any eventuality, the council of state as the advisory body to the Presidency and to the National Archives for storage.
There is a provision for the establishment of a Presidential Estates Unit as an independent institution of state under the Administrator-General who has sufficient stature to stand up to both the outgoing and incoming governments.
“The Presidential Estates Unit is established as a continuing office and does not terminate with the termination of the transition. It is responsible for the procurement, management and transfer of all the executive assets of state,” it explained.
The bill makes provision for the reasonable arrangements to be made to secure alternative accommodation for the departing officials.
The incumbent President and his Vice-President are each to vacate the official residence before the day of the inauguration of the new President. However, an alternative official residence is to be made available for their use for a period of up to six months.
The bill provides also for the election and swearing in of the House speaker. It sets out the process and status that 48 hours after the declaration of the results of the Presidential and general elections, the clerk to parliament is to summon a meeting of the elected members of parliament to elect the speaker and deputy speaker and take the oaths of office as members of parliament.
A bill to establish arrangements in practice for the political transfer of administration from one democratically elected President to another, to provide for the regulation of the political transfer of power and for related matters has been laid before parliament.
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, presented the bill to the House last week, in accordance with the relevance regulations of the 1992 constitution and the standing orders of the House, following which House Speaker Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo referred it to the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs for consideration and report.
The bill was initiated by the four political parties with representations in parliament within the framework of the Institute of Economic Affairs-sponsored Ghana Political Programme, namely the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the People’s National Convention (PNC) and the Convention People’s Party (CPP).
The presentation of the bill is against the backdrop that the stability achieved so far in Ghana in the practice of multi-party democracy over the past 16 years during which time two sitting governments were changed peacefully has made it compelling for the country to find ways to improve the process associated with the multiparty democratic governance system.
This is to be regulated by law to ensure the shared experience and arrangements for the transfer of government.
The bill provides for the appointment of a transitional team, made up of representatives, in equal numbers, of the incumbent President and of the person elected as President, with the heads of certain public establishments.
Out of this team sub-teams, including an inauguration sub-team, a government machinery sub-team and a presidency sub-team, which the transitional team considers relevant for the performance of the functions of the team will be set up.
The function of the transitional team is designed to cover two key subjects which have proved to be controversial in the two precedent setting years, 2001 and 2009.
These are the arrangements for the transfer of political power from the outgoing to the incoming government at the national, regional and district levels, as well as the handing over of all official assets and properties, and arrangements to ensure prompt implementation of the decisions on salaries, allowances, facilities, privileges and retiring benefits or rewards, as determined respectively by the President and Parliament on the basis of the recommendations made by the committee appointed in accordance with Article 71 of the constitution.
The bill places an obligation on the team to meet within 48 hours of the declaration of the results of the Presidential elections and the winner of the elections with subsequent meetings being convened by the co-chairpersons. It also deals with handing over notes.
“The Office of the President is to prepare a set of comprehensive handing over notes covering the terms of office of the President as the Executive Authority under Article 58 of the constitution,” the memorandum to the bill stated.
The bill also mandates the Administrator–General to make available to the President-elect the original copies of handing over notes, retain a copy and send a copy each to the Speaker of Parliament and the Chief Justice, as persons who are in the line of succession to the Presidency in case of any eventuality, the council of state as the advisory body to the Presidency and to the National Archives for storage.
There is a provision for the establishment of a Presidential Estates Unit as an independent institution of state under the Administrator-General who has sufficient stature to stand up to both the outgoing and incoming governments.
“The Presidential Estates Unit is established as a continuing office and does not terminate with the termination of the transition. It is responsible for the procurement, management and transfer of all the executive assets of state,” it explained.
The bill makes provision for the reasonable arrangements to be made to secure alternative accommodation for the departing officials.
The incumbent President and his Vice-President are each to vacate the official residence before the day of the inauguration of the new President. However, an alternative official residence is to be made available for their use for a period of up to six months.
The bill provides also for the election and swearing in of the House speaker. It sets out the process and status that 48 hours after the declaration of the results of the Presidential and general elections, the clerk to parliament is to summon a meeting of the elected members of parliament to elect the speaker and deputy speaker and take the oaths of office as members of parliament.
Recounting the British Airways experience
By Kofi AHOVI
British Airways recently sponsored some journalists from selected media houses in Ghana to the United Kingdom for a short visit ranging from three to 10 days. The trip was to enable the journalists to acquire firsthand knowledge about British Airways’ (BA) Terminal 5 which was established in 2008.
The journalists were treated to the best of BA from the beginning to the end of the trip. First, the journalists, numbering five, were treated to business class services, Club World.
Club World has a 25% wider, more comfortable seat that reclines to a fully flat bed adapting to one’s need and giving flexibility whether working, sleeping, eating or relaxing. The in-seat power combined with comfortable design makes working onboard much easier.
Club World longhaul business class is designed around the passenger. From the moment passenger arrives at the airport to the moment he/she leaves, BA’s Club World ensures that everything is just as the passenger had wished.
The latest Club World cabin can be experience on all BA’s Boeing 747 and Boeing 777 aircrafts. The original, award-winning Club World cabin featuring the world's first fully flat bed is fitted on BA’s Boeing 767 aircraft.
With BA’s Club World, just because the flight has touched down doesn't mean the Club World journey is over. With its end-to-end service, passengers of the service, including the journalists, were fast-tracked through arrival formalities at Terminal 5 at the Heathrow airport in London and this service is also available in some key airports.
Just after arrival formalities, the journalists were checked into Sofitel Hotel, one of the luxurious hotels in London.
We were then transported to BA’s head office at Waterside, about 15 minutes’ drive from Heathrow Airport, to meet with the Director of Finance, William Keith, for an interview. Keith would soon assume the CEO position of BA, after the current CEO, Willie Walsh, moves to take over the overall position of the merger of the BA and Iberia airlines. Prior to our interview, Ben Marshall, the group’s Public Relations Manager for Africa took us on a brief tour of the head office, which could be described as a “one stop head office.” The premises contain all that is needed to confine workers happily making them feel as if they are at their own homes. The premise has training facility for its airhostess and airhostesses, a gift shop, salon, bar, cafeteria, and a café area, among others.
After our 20 minutes interview with the soon to be CEO, we had our lunch at the cafeteria which one could easily rate as a first class restaurant and we were transported back to the hotel where a brief tour was also organized for us.
The hotel, a member of the Arora group of hotels, has a total of 605 rooms including suites (some with internal garden views), 45 meeting rooms for up to 2,000 guests, it has a complimentary gym for guests, a spa with relaxation rooms, two restaurants, two bars and one tea salon, etc.
The hotel is directly connected to Heathrow’s T5 via a covered walkway, it offers superb transport links including free bus and train transfers between the terminals, and the Heathrow Express Rail taking the guest to central London in 21 minutes. Designed by concept architect Stephen Williams, the hotel is instantly recognizable by its five towering steel and glass atria and it is a spectacular addition to Heathrow’s skyline. The innovative architectural theme is one of ‘continents’ to portray the hotel as a ‘gateway’ to the world’ and this is epitomized in all aspects of its interiors, befitting a hotel that will attract international guests from all over the world. The hotel rooms are generously sized and equipped with ‘MyBed’, Sofitel’s unique bed concept combining softness and support.
Dinner was served at the Capricious Italian restaurant where the journalists were treated to special Italian dishes.
The next day was the actual tour day, we began from BA’s Terminal 5. T5 has allowed BA to radically overhaul the airline’s airport lounges. There are six lounges within the new exclusive BA terminals; the Concorde room, the First Class lounge, three club lounges and an arrival lounge. These have been built at cost of 60 million pounds and are the epitome of elegance and luxury. The lounges cover around 15,000sq.m, about the size of two football pitches. Overall, it is possible to fit 50 football pitches over T5’s five floors.
Collectively the lounges, known as ‘Galleries’, are capable of hosting up to 2,500 people. This is 25% increase in capacity in comparison to the current Terminal 1 and Terminal 4 lounges. There is also a 100% increase in the number of showers and bathrooms, a 60% increase in washrooms, 25% more customer service desks and a total of 166 personal computers installed to make life easier for customers.
The baggage system can handle up to 12,000 bags per hour and has a 18km of baggage belt to transport the luggage around the terminal.
We then went to the Borough market in central London, using BA’s Heathrow Express Rail service, and had our lunch at a popular restaurant, Fish, where no meal is served without fish. The London Eye was the next destination. Situated on the banks of the River Thames in the British capital, it provides one with a 360 degrees view of London. In the Eye, one could see all the most important landmarks in the city within a 30 minute ride.
Since opening in March 2000 The Merlin Entertainments London Eye has become an iconic landmark and a symbol of modern Britain. The London Eye is the UK’s most popular paid for visitor attraction, visited by over 3.5 million people a year.
A breathtaking feat of design and engineering, passengers in the London Eye's capsules can see up to 40 kilometres in all directions. The London Eye is the vision of David Marks and Julia Barfield, a husband and wife architect team. The wheel design was used as a metaphor for the end of the 20th century, and time turning into the new millennium.
Back in 2000, the London Eye was known as the Millennium Wheel. At that time, British Airways was the main sponsor, and up until November 2005 they were joint shareholders with Marks Barfield Architects and The Tussauds Group. British Airways also privately funded the London Eye project from the early stages of conception. The London Eye is now being operated by the London Eye Company Limited, a Merlin Entertainments Group Company.
It took seven years and the skills of hundreds of people from five countries to make the London Eye a reality. The London Eye can carry 800 passengers per revolution - equivalent to 11 London red doubled-decker buses. Each of the 32 capsules weighs 10 tonnes. Each rotation takes about 30 minutes, meaning a capsule travels at a stately 26cm per second, or 0.9km (0.6 miles) per hour - twice as fast as a tortoise sprinting; allowing passengers to step on and off without the wheel having to stop
The circumference of the wheel is 424m (1.392ft) - meaning that if it were unraveled, it would be 1.75 times longer than the UK's tallest building - One Canada Square in Canary Wharf. The height of the London Eye is 135m making it the fourth tallest structure in London after the BT Tower, Tower 42 and One Canada Square in Canary Wharf.
British Airways recently sponsored some journalists from selected media houses in Ghana to the United Kingdom for a short visit ranging from three to 10 days. The trip was to enable the journalists to acquire firsthand knowledge about British Airways’ (BA) Terminal 5 which was established in 2008.
The journalists were treated to the best of BA from the beginning to the end of the trip. First, the journalists, numbering five, were treated to business class services, Club World.
Club World has a 25% wider, more comfortable seat that reclines to a fully flat bed adapting to one’s need and giving flexibility whether working, sleeping, eating or relaxing. The in-seat power combined with comfortable design makes working onboard much easier.
Club World longhaul business class is designed around the passenger. From the moment passenger arrives at the airport to the moment he/she leaves, BA’s Club World ensures that everything is just as the passenger had wished.
The latest Club World cabin can be experience on all BA’s Boeing 747 and Boeing 777 aircrafts. The original, award-winning Club World cabin featuring the world's first fully flat bed is fitted on BA’s Boeing 767 aircraft.
With BA’s Club World, just because the flight has touched down doesn't mean the Club World journey is over. With its end-to-end service, passengers of the service, including the journalists, were fast-tracked through arrival formalities at Terminal 5 at the Heathrow airport in London and this service is also available in some key airports.
Just after arrival formalities, the journalists were checked into Sofitel Hotel, one of the luxurious hotels in London.
We were then transported to BA’s head office at Waterside, about 15 minutes’ drive from Heathrow Airport, to meet with the Director of Finance, William Keith, for an interview. Keith would soon assume the CEO position of BA, after the current CEO, Willie Walsh, moves to take over the overall position of the merger of the BA and Iberia airlines. Prior to our interview, Ben Marshall, the group’s Public Relations Manager for Africa took us on a brief tour of the head office, which could be described as a “one stop head office.” The premises contain all that is needed to confine workers happily making them feel as if they are at their own homes. The premise has training facility for its airhostess and airhostesses, a gift shop, salon, bar, cafeteria, and a café area, among others.
After our 20 minutes interview with the soon to be CEO, we had our lunch at the cafeteria which one could easily rate as a first class restaurant and we were transported back to the hotel where a brief tour was also organized for us.
The hotel, a member of the Arora group of hotels, has a total of 605 rooms including suites (some with internal garden views), 45 meeting rooms for up to 2,000 guests, it has a complimentary gym for guests, a spa with relaxation rooms, two restaurants, two bars and one tea salon, etc.
The hotel is directly connected to Heathrow’s T5 via a covered walkway, it offers superb transport links including free bus and train transfers between the terminals, and the Heathrow Express Rail taking the guest to central London in 21 minutes. Designed by concept architect Stephen Williams, the hotel is instantly recognizable by its five towering steel and glass atria and it is a spectacular addition to Heathrow’s skyline. The innovative architectural theme is one of ‘continents’ to portray the hotel as a ‘gateway’ to the world’ and this is epitomized in all aspects of its interiors, befitting a hotel that will attract international guests from all over the world. The hotel rooms are generously sized and equipped with ‘MyBed’, Sofitel’s unique bed concept combining softness and support.
Dinner was served at the Capricious Italian restaurant where the journalists were treated to special Italian dishes.
The next day was the actual tour day, we began from BA’s Terminal 5. T5 has allowed BA to radically overhaul the airline’s airport lounges. There are six lounges within the new exclusive BA terminals; the Concorde room, the First Class lounge, three club lounges and an arrival lounge. These have been built at cost of 60 million pounds and are the epitome of elegance and luxury. The lounges cover around 15,000sq.m, about the size of two football pitches. Overall, it is possible to fit 50 football pitches over T5’s five floors.
Collectively the lounges, known as ‘Galleries’, are capable of hosting up to 2,500 people. This is 25% increase in capacity in comparison to the current Terminal 1 and Terminal 4 lounges. There is also a 100% increase in the number of showers and bathrooms, a 60% increase in washrooms, 25% more customer service desks and a total of 166 personal computers installed to make life easier for customers.
The baggage system can handle up to 12,000 bags per hour and has a 18km of baggage belt to transport the luggage around the terminal.
We then went to the Borough market in central London, using BA’s Heathrow Express Rail service, and had our lunch at a popular restaurant, Fish, where no meal is served without fish. The London Eye was the next destination. Situated on the banks of the River Thames in the British capital, it provides one with a 360 degrees view of London. In the Eye, one could see all the most important landmarks in the city within a 30 minute ride.
Since opening in March 2000 The Merlin Entertainments London Eye has become an iconic landmark and a symbol of modern Britain. The London Eye is the UK’s most popular paid for visitor attraction, visited by over 3.5 million people a year.
A breathtaking feat of design and engineering, passengers in the London Eye's capsules can see up to 40 kilometres in all directions. The London Eye is the vision of David Marks and Julia Barfield, a husband and wife architect team. The wheel design was used as a metaphor for the end of the 20th century, and time turning into the new millennium.
Back in 2000, the London Eye was known as the Millennium Wheel. At that time, British Airways was the main sponsor, and up until November 2005 they were joint shareholders with Marks Barfield Architects and The Tussauds Group. British Airways also privately funded the London Eye project from the early stages of conception. The London Eye is now being operated by the London Eye Company Limited, a Merlin Entertainments Group Company.
It took seven years and the skills of hundreds of people from five countries to make the London Eye a reality. The London Eye can carry 800 passengers per revolution - equivalent to 11 London red doubled-decker buses. Each of the 32 capsules weighs 10 tonnes. Each rotation takes about 30 minutes, meaning a capsule travels at a stately 26cm per second, or 0.9km (0.6 miles) per hour - twice as fast as a tortoise sprinting; allowing passengers to step on and off without the wheel having to stop
The circumference of the wheel is 424m (1.392ft) - meaning that if it were unraveled, it would be 1.75 times longer than the UK's tallest building - One Canada Square in Canary Wharf. The height of the London Eye is 135m making it the fourth tallest structure in London after the BT Tower, Tower 42 and One Canada Square in Canary Wharf.
Ghana Journalists Association, A Stinky Fraternity
Or The Inky Fraternity?
The TRADITIONAL ROLE of the press is to INFORM and to REPORT the FACTS since the truth is rarely objective and difficult to establish.
The press interprets and comments, and varying opinions are the LIFE BLOOD of society and good governance. The significance of views varies and as such, it is highly desirable that all points of views are REPORTED which is ABSENT in Ghana since 99% of Ghana’s journalists are biased against objectivity, for they always play the ostrich by burring their heads in the sand.
Before the 1992 constitution, Ghanaian journalists could write false stories about innocent well meaning Ghanaians who could NOT write rejoinders to clear themselves and the journalists had a field day.
The ends of justice CANNOT BE SERVED by a press trial where the lips of the ACCUSED are SEALED, because his rejoinder to the particular newspaper accusing him will never be published.
However, the 1992 constitution provides a clause for MANDATORY REJOINDERS by accused Ghanaians in the media.
What the papers say is assumed to be true, but a truer position is that the media have a mind of their own, either the proprietor’s or editorial, which would normally not differ from the proprietors since HE determines who will be the editor. Since Ghana returned to constitutional rule, we now have scores of semi-literate carpenters, apprentice mechanics, truck pushers and driver mates parading as journalists in Ghana’s private media who always publish trash, concoct stories about innocent Ghanaian politicians who are not sharing their ideology.
The second group of so-called journalists include some hot heads, drunkards, excellent liars, confusionists, double faced people, and poison minded drug addicts with high international connections who can NEVER see anything BEYOND THEIR STOMACHS. These academic undesirables and ONE WAY journalists have only specialized in the art of inventing lies, cooking false stories, maligning innocent and decent Ghanaians in both the business sector and in the political arena.
Such characters always support corruption 100% and even publish stories to encourage it and defends corruption aggressively with their pens. When you write false stories it always stinks but these “journalists” insulted the intelligence of well meaning Ghanaians for 8 solid years 2001 – 2008 – Why was it so? Money, dollars, Euros, Pound Sterling, cedis every where and it worked to the dis-advantage of those money bags in the NPP in 2008 general elections. A dishonest press to which TRUTH is unkown and whose MAIN OCCUPATION is the fabrication and propaganda of IRESPONSIBLE and LIBELOUS information is a very serious liability to any democratic country.
Dishonest media houses are liabilities to this country and NOT assets, and this is very shameful. We have gone through such a mess right from 1992 – 2001 when it surprisingly changed to an attack on the NDC then in opposition instead of putting the then ruling NPP government on its toes from 2001 – 2008. Ex-President Kufuor was described as media friendly and as such a common friend because he could divert a colossal amount of ¢15 billion old Ghana cedis meant for the recovery (TOR) debts to be shared to Ghanaian journalists for them to praise his corrupt government of the NPP to the High Heavens, while condemning Ex-President Rawlings by describing him that he is the Common Enemy because he refused to bribe journalists or buy them to champion his cause from 1992 – 2001, How sad. Those journalists ate at the wrong sides of their month because the money was a forbidden fruit since it belongs to the people of Ghana and could not be stolen by Ex-President Kufour simply because he was the President of Ghana.
Some journalists who were unquestionable principled courageus and unrelentingly opposed to abuses of political power and corruption between 1992 – 2001 and won the admiration of thousands of Ghanaians including this writer, were in an entirely DIFFERENT LEAGUE with the then ruling NPP government, they became professional boot lickers, and saw themselves as an integral part of that government and were to sycophantically prepared to openly defend the official actions and an-actions of the NPP government from 2001 – 2008 by completely throwing their professional ethics and integrity to the wind.
However, Ghanaians did not know the reason for such an about turn until the “Enquirer Newspaper” revealed that the Ex-president instructed the then minister of Information, Hon. Stephen Asamoah Boateng to divert ¢15 billion cedis meant for the TOR debt to be paid to these brilliant no-nonsense journalists to shut their months and prying eyes as well as their sniffing noses and it was done. See the “Enquirer” page 4, Wednesday 17th – Thursday February 18 2010 for the full true story. After the payment of these billions of cedis to those journalists, Ms. Gifty Anti’s GTV announced to Ghanaians that the nation was in a “political off season” leaving only NPP members to discuss political issues on radio and TV in Ghana. Then came Mr. Document, who traveled more than 10 times to Belgium, U.S.A., South Africa, Lybia, Cuba, U.K. Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Russia, Egypt, Iran, Iraq and finally to the MOON via U.S.A to search in the banks of all the above named countries for the so-called billions of cedis and dollars allegedly stolen by Ex-president Rawlings and his wife during their 19years rule.
THE RESULTS: Mr. Document returned with EMPTY HANDS with empty evidence and the NPP became furious and decided to put Rawlings’ wife before court only for Ghanaians to boot out the bogus and tribal government of the NPP out of power in December 2008/January 2009 general elections and the RUN-OFF. The NDC must also put Mr. Document before court for causing financial loss to the state. Immediately the EC blow general elections, Ex-President Kufour cowardly stopped the prosecution of Tsikata and removed all the traps he put in place to destroy the NDC and finally eliminate Rawlings from Ghana politics.
So instead of Ghana boasting of having best brains from the INKY FRATERNITY, we have been cursed with a very STINKY FRATERNITY in this country. Instead of having the “Fourth Estate” of the Realm, we are again cursed by God with a Fake Estate of Realm where most journalists could be bought like bags of maize by a very corrupt tribal government like the then NPP gov’t – 2001 – 2008. I am calling on the media to remove these worn out ways of doing things before they all collapse finally. The few Honest Journalist must NOT copy or follow the bad stomach journalists that are dishonest and bias in their reportage at all.
ALUTA CONTINUA
Clement Sangaparee
Obuasi
Email: clement sang@yahoo.com
Distribution
All Media Houses
Accra
The TRADITIONAL ROLE of the press is to INFORM and to REPORT the FACTS since the truth is rarely objective and difficult to establish.
The press interprets and comments, and varying opinions are the LIFE BLOOD of society and good governance. The significance of views varies and as such, it is highly desirable that all points of views are REPORTED which is ABSENT in Ghana since 99% of Ghana’s journalists are biased against objectivity, for they always play the ostrich by burring their heads in the sand.
Before the 1992 constitution, Ghanaian journalists could write false stories about innocent well meaning Ghanaians who could NOT write rejoinders to clear themselves and the journalists had a field day.
The ends of justice CANNOT BE SERVED by a press trial where the lips of the ACCUSED are SEALED, because his rejoinder to the particular newspaper accusing him will never be published.
However, the 1992 constitution provides a clause for MANDATORY REJOINDERS by accused Ghanaians in the media.
What the papers say is assumed to be true, but a truer position is that the media have a mind of their own, either the proprietor’s or editorial, which would normally not differ from the proprietors since HE determines who will be the editor. Since Ghana returned to constitutional rule, we now have scores of semi-literate carpenters, apprentice mechanics, truck pushers and driver mates parading as journalists in Ghana’s private media who always publish trash, concoct stories about innocent Ghanaian politicians who are not sharing their ideology.
The second group of so-called journalists include some hot heads, drunkards, excellent liars, confusionists, double faced people, and poison minded drug addicts with high international connections who can NEVER see anything BEYOND THEIR STOMACHS. These academic undesirables and ONE WAY journalists have only specialized in the art of inventing lies, cooking false stories, maligning innocent and decent Ghanaians in both the business sector and in the political arena.
Such characters always support corruption 100% and even publish stories to encourage it and defends corruption aggressively with their pens. When you write false stories it always stinks but these “journalists” insulted the intelligence of well meaning Ghanaians for 8 solid years 2001 – 2008 – Why was it so? Money, dollars, Euros, Pound Sterling, cedis every where and it worked to the dis-advantage of those money bags in the NPP in 2008 general elections. A dishonest press to which TRUTH is unkown and whose MAIN OCCUPATION is the fabrication and propaganda of IRESPONSIBLE and LIBELOUS information is a very serious liability to any democratic country.
Dishonest media houses are liabilities to this country and NOT assets, and this is very shameful. We have gone through such a mess right from 1992 – 2001 when it surprisingly changed to an attack on the NDC then in opposition instead of putting the then ruling NPP government on its toes from 2001 – 2008. Ex-President Kufuor was described as media friendly and as such a common friend because he could divert a colossal amount of ¢15 billion old Ghana cedis meant for the recovery (TOR) debts to be shared to Ghanaian journalists for them to praise his corrupt government of the NPP to the High Heavens, while condemning Ex-President Rawlings by describing him that he is the Common Enemy because he refused to bribe journalists or buy them to champion his cause from 1992 – 2001, How sad. Those journalists ate at the wrong sides of their month because the money was a forbidden fruit since it belongs to the people of Ghana and could not be stolen by Ex-President Kufour simply because he was the President of Ghana.
Some journalists who were unquestionable principled courageus and unrelentingly opposed to abuses of political power and corruption between 1992 – 2001 and won the admiration of thousands of Ghanaians including this writer, were in an entirely DIFFERENT LEAGUE with the then ruling NPP government, they became professional boot lickers, and saw themselves as an integral part of that government and were to sycophantically prepared to openly defend the official actions and an-actions of the NPP government from 2001 – 2008 by completely throwing their professional ethics and integrity to the wind.
However, Ghanaians did not know the reason for such an about turn until the “Enquirer Newspaper” revealed that the Ex-president instructed the then minister of Information, Hon. Stephen Asamoah Boateng to divert ¢15 billion cedis meant for the TOR debt to be paid to these brilliant no-nonsense journalists to shut their months and prying eyes as well as their sniffing noses and it was done. See the “Enquirer” page 4, Wednesday 17th – Thursday February 18 2010 for the full true story. After the payment of these billions of cedis to those journalists, Ms. Gifty Anti’s GTV announced to Ghanaians that the nation was in a “political off season” leaving only NPP members to discuss political issues on radio and TV in Ghana. Then came Mr. Document, who traveled more than 10 times to Belgium, U.S.A., South Africa, Lybia, Cuba, U.K. Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Russia, Egypt, Iran, Iraq and finally to the MOON via U.S.A to search in the banks of all the above named countries for the so-called billions of cedis and dollars allegedly stolen by Ex-president Rawlings and his wife during their 19years rule.
THE RESULTS: Mr. Document returned with EMPTY HANDS with empty evidence and the NPP became furious and decided to put Rawlings’ wife before court only for Ghanaians to boot out the bogus and tribal government of the NPP out of power in December 2008/January 2009 general elections and the RUN-OFF. The NDC must also put Mr. Document before court for causing financial loss to the state. Immediately the EC blow general elections, Ex-President Kufour cowardly stopped the prosecution of Tsikata and removed all the traps he put in place to destroy the NDC and finally eliminate Rawlings from Ghana politics.
So instead of Ghana boasting of having best brains from the INKY FRATERNITY, we have been cursed with a very STINKY FRATERNITY in this country. Instead of having the “Fourth Estate” of the Realm, we are again cursed by God with a Fake Estate of Realm where most journalists could be bought like bags of maize by a very corrupt tribal government like the then NPP gov’t – 2001 – 2008. I am calling on the media to remove these worn out ways of doing things before they all collapse finally. The few Honest Journalist must NOT copy or follow the bad stomach journalists that are dishonest and bias in their reportage at all.
ALUTA CONTINUA
Clement Sangaparee
Obuasi
Email: clement sang@yahoo.com
Distribution
All Media Houses
Accra
Ghana, the easiest place to do business in West Africa- IFC
Ghana has established Africa’s newest centralized Collateral Registry and by improving credit information and legal rights through granting an operating license to a private credit bureau, the West African country led the world in making it easier for businesses to obtain credit.
This is a finding of Doing Business 2011: Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs, the eighth in a series of the flagship annual reports, published by IFC and the World Bank benchmarking the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
The report presents qualitative indicators on business regulation and the protection of property rights for 183 economies from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. The data are current as of June 2010.
In the past year, 27 economies in Sub-Saharan Africa implemented 49 regulatory reforms to improve their business environment. Three countries, Rwanda, Cape Verde and Zambia, rank among the top 10 worldwide on improvement in the ease of doing business based on the number and impact of changes to business regulations between June 2009 and May 2010.
In the sub region, Ghana remains overall the easiest place to do business and ranks tops in two other indicators, Registering Property and Paying Taxes. Sierra Leone is the easiest place in ‘Start a Business’ and provides the best protection for investors; Burkina Faso provides simplified regulations for getting a Construction Permit, Cape Verde tops in Trading Across Borders and Enforcing Contracts, while neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire makes it easiest in legally ‘Closing a Business.’
IFC Country Manager for Ghana, Mary Jean Moyo, said she was pleased that Ghana implemented reforms in Getting Credit, one of the nine indicators of the report, and has maintained its overall ranking as the easiest place to do business in West Africa.
According to her, IFC, working with SECO, has provided advisory support in improving Secured Transactions in Ghana. However, there are clearly opportunities, especially in deepening the products and scope of the financial markets to ensure that the legal and regulatory framework established by the Borrowers and Lenders Act; the credit reference bureau and the Collateral Registry actually translates into affordable long term credit for firms, especially the large SME market.
Moyo indicated that interest rates in Ghana remain high and there are other areas, such as infrastructure and the provision of reliable and affordable energy, which, while not measured by the ‘Doing Business’ report, has a direct impact on the overall investment climate and thus the ability of Ghana to develop a true competitive edge in the region and globally.
This year, ‘Doing Business 2011’ introduces a new indicator, Getting Electricity. This and the Employing Workers indicators are not included in the ranking on the overall ease of doing business ranking. This report also features cumulative five-year trends of the focus and pace of legal and regulatory reform in the economies surveyed.
Since 2005, about 85% of the world’s economies have made it easier for local entrepreneurs to operate, through 1,511 improvements to business regulation. Among the 30 most-improved economies during those five years, a third are in Sub-Saharan Africa Burkina Faso, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
This is a finding of Doing Business 2011: Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs, the eighth in a series of the flagship annual reports, published by IFC and the World Bank benchmarking the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
The report presents qualitative indicators on business regulation and the protection of property rights for 183 economies from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. The data are current as of June 2010.
In the past year, 27 economies in Sub-Saharan Africa implemented 49 regulatory reforms to improve their business environment. Three countries, Rwanda, Cape Verde and Zambia, rank among the top 10 worldwide on improvement in the ease of doing business based on the number and impact of changes to business regulations between June 2009 and May 2010.
In the sub region, Ghana remains overall the easiest place to do business and ranks tops in two other indicators, Registering Property and Paying Taxes. Sierra Leone is the easiest place in ‘Start a Business’ and provides the best protection for investors; Burkina Faso provides simplified regulations for getting a Construction Permit, Cape Verde tops in Trading Across Borders and Enforcing Contracts, while neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire makes it easiest in legally ‘Closing a Business.’
IFC Country Manager for Ghana, Mary Jean Moyo, said she was pleased that Ghana implemented reforms in Getting Credit, one of the nine indicators of the report, and has maintained its overall ranking as the easiest place to do business in West Africa.
According to her, IFC, working with SECO, has provided advisory support in improving Secured Transactions in Ghana. However, there are clearly opportunities, especially in deepening the products and scope of the financial markets to ensure that the legal and regulatory framework established by the Borrowers and Lenders Act; the credit reference bureau and the Collateral Registry actually translates into affordable long term credit for firms, especially the large SME market.
Moyo indicated that interest rates in Ghana remain high and there are other areas, such as infrastructure and the provision of reliable and affordable energy, which, while not measured by the ‘Doing Business’ report, has a direct impact on the overall investment climate and thus the ability of Ghana to develop a true competitive edge in the region and globally.
This year, ‘Doing Business 2011’ introduces a new indicator, Getting Electricity. This and the Employing Workers indicators are not included in the ranking on the overall ease of doing business ranking. This report also features cumulative five-year trends of the focus and pace of legal and regulatory reform in the economies surveyed.
Since 2005, about 85% of the world’s economies have made it easier for local entrepreneurs to operate, through 1,511 improvements to business regulation. Among the 30 most-improved economies during those five years, a third are in Sub-Saharan Africa Burkina Faso, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Parliamentary Press Corps seeks funding
By Jeorge Wilson KINGSON
The members of the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC), which consists of journalists and media personnel who report from Parliament, are vigorously in search of funding to finance their programmes, and have therefore appealed to corporate institutions and individuals to come to their aid.
The PPC, which is in its 16th year of formation, has contributed immensely in deepening the country’s democracy by ensuring fair, accurate and unbiased reportage, thereby creating a niche for itself as one of the vibrant affiliates of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA).
The corps has on several occasions received praises from both sides of the House, as well as the Parliamentary Service Board, for their role in entrenching parliamentary democracy.
This is evident in a recent comment by the Clerk to Parliament, Emmanuel Anyimadu, who said “the nation, particularly Parliament, therefore owes the media an immense gratitude. In the words of Archimedes, ‘those who are able to see afar do so because they stand on the shoulders of some giants’ You are some of the giants on whose shoulders Ghana’s Parliament stands to excel as a model for the African continent.”
Despite all these, members of the corps have to struggle to file their reports from the House on daily basis, as they have no office to operate from. What they have is a glass cubicle, about 7x7 in size. Even that it is not equipped except for a table, a chair, an old cabinet and a disconnected telephone line.
Modern equipment such as computers, fax machines and internet services are clearly missing. Journalists have to continuously rely on the generosity and kindness of some staff of Parliament to wire their stories to their various stations. It is very common to see broadcast journalists hanging around the uncompleted ‘Job 600’ building or trooping to the Osu Cemetery area for a serene atmosphere so they can file their stories live. In most cases sitting is in progress and by the time they return a lot might have happened in their absence. Thus through no fault of theirs they are often blamed for misreporting or missing the story angle. This is strange compared to what happens in parliaments elsewhere.
The less said about the difficulties in assessing documents on time for stories the better, not to talk about researching on a particular issue by journalists. In some cases, media personnel had to break rules and enter out-of-bound areas, such as the printing room, where photocopies of documents are done. But even that they have become used to the phrase “We have run out of paper” by the officials of the Parliamentary Service.
In cases of extended sitting where journalists are privileged to be served with food, it is very common to see them carrying food in polythene bags and walking all over the place, looking for corners and shades to sit under. This is mainly because they do not have any place to sit and dine. They are not allowed to sit on the mostly empty seats that parliamentary committees use for their meetings which also serve as dining table for members of parliament (MP).
Until recently, Parliament as an institution had no hand in building the capacity of journalists, even though it is the number one beneficiary of the work or output of the members of the Parliamentary Press Corps. Even on the three occasions that the Office of Parliament sponsored a training workshop the number of participants were very limited.
Only 35 out of the over 77 members of the press corps were selected to participate in the last Parliament-sponsored training workshop for journalists, a concern that caused the dean of the corps, Andrew Edwin Arthur, to ask a very fundamental question that is still searching for an answer.
“Today, we have assembled here for this important workshop, only 35 out of our total membership of about 77 and still counting more, so the question, how do we impart same knowledge to our brothers and sisters who did not get the opportunity to be here?”
As usual, the Office of Parliament claimed it was constrained to limit the number due to inadequate budgetary support. It is on this bit that Arthur prayed the Office of Parliament to look for other sources of funding or better still seek other avenues to train these journalists who were deselected so as to bring them also in line with the corps’ resolve to improving parliamentary reporting in the country.
While on this bit, it is worth noting the efforts of some democratic institutions in Ghana in supporting the Parliamentary Press Corps in its capacity building efforts. Key institutions such as the Office of the Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), the Lands Administration Project (LAP), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) among others will forever remain in the good books of the PPC.
Just recently, with support of the Canadian Parliamentary Centre (CPC), about five members of the PPC visited the Ontario Legislative Assembly in Canada on a two-week study visit.
Led by the dean of the corps, Andrew Edwin Arthur, the delegation met with the Speaker and Clerk of the Ontario Legislature and held discussions on how best to help Ghana’s press corps to improve on the discharge of its core mandate.
Ghana’s delegation managed to strike a deal with their Canadian counterparts for an exchange programme, and this has already received the necessary approvals from the appropriate quarters and arrangements are already far fetched for the first delegation of seven to move from Ghana in December of this year.
“What this means is that, starting from December this year, we should be able to send seven of our members on an attachment in the form of an exchange programme to the Ontario Legislative Assembly for a period of about one month, and they would in turn do same,” Arthur stated last week when he briefed members of the corps about the outcome of the trip.
He noted that the deal falls in line with the vision of the current executives of the PPC to give their entire membership international exposure and to equip them with the skills and knowledge to be abreast with the changing trends in parliamentary reporting.
As elating as the news is however, the corps is currently mind rumbling about how to secure funding to finance its part of the agreement of accommodating and feeding seven Canadian journalists for about a month. Members of the PPC have therefore been tasked to use their mediums to seek funding to enable this noble vision to come to fruition.
Starting this Monday also, the Canadian Parliamentary Centre and the World Bank Institute, are collaborating with the Parliamentary Press Corps for a video conference training programme, which is further aimed at building the capacity of members of the PPC in parliamentary reporting.
According to Arthur, “The corps plays a very crucial role in deepening parliamentary democracy and good governance in Ghana, but we operate under very severe constraints, notable among them are lack of telephones to transmit our reports, lack of access to computers and lack of access to the internet.
These and other myriad of constraints militating against us have contributed in no small measure in affecting our performance. While urging my colleagues to always endeavour to approach their work with professionalism, let me humbly call on the Office of Parliament to ensure that we are at least comfortable,” he pleaded.
The President of the GJA, Ransford Tetteh, urged the parliamentary reporters to endeavour to be professional and committed to their call to make their reportage credible and relevant.
“From all indications, experience is so vital in the coverage of Parliament and it is for this reason that the GJA wishes to appeal to media houses to keep their reporters on the parliamentary beat as long as possible to enable them to acquire the necessary experience which tremendously enhances specialization process,” Tetteh stated.
He hinted at the association’s intentions to honour parliamentary reporters who excel during GJA’s awards for excellence in journalism.
“Our democracy has come of age and it is essential to recognize journalists who have made the greatest contribution to the promotion of parliamentary democracy in the country,” he said.
While expressing the hope that the award for parliamentary reporting will be included in the 2009 GJA awards slated for August 2010, he also expressed worry about funding for the awards and prayed the Parliamentary Service to assist in that endeavour.
Dawuro.com learnt that it was lack of funds that prevented the corps from being awarded the parliamentary beat last year.
Corporate institutions and individuals are therefore kindly requested to assist the PPC in cash or kind so they can continue to contribute their quota in building Ghana’s democracy.
The members of the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC), which consists of journalists and media personnel who report from Parliament, are vigorously in search of funding to finance their programmes, and have therefore appealed to corporate institutions and individuals to come to their aid.
The PPC, which is in its 16th year of formation, has contributed immensely in deepening the country’s democracy by ensuring fair, accurate and unbiased reportage, thereby creating a niche for itself as one of the vibrant affiliates of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA).
The corps has on several occasions received praises from both sides of the House, as well as the Parliamentary Service Board, for their role in entrenching parliamentary democracy.
This is evident in a recent comment by the Clerk to Parliament, Emmanuel Anyimadu, who said “the nation, particularly Parliament, therefore owes the media an immense gratitude. In the words of Archimedes, ‘those who are able to see afar do so because they stand on the shoulders of some giants’ You are some of the giants on whose shoulders Ghana’s Parliament stands to excel as a model for the African continent.”
Despite all these, members of the corps have to struggle to file their reports from the House on daily basis, as they have no office to operate from. What they have is a glass cubicle, about 7x7 in size. Even that it is not equipped except for a table, a chair, an old cabinet and a disconnected telephone line.
Modern equipment such as computers, fax machines and internet services are clearly missing. Journalists have to continuously rely on the generosity and kindness of some staff of Parliament to wire their stories to their various stations. It is very common to see broadcast journalists hanging around the uncompleted ‘Job 600’ building or trooping to the Osu Cemetery area for a serene atmosphere so they can file their stories live. In most cases sitting is in progress and by the time they return a lot might have happened in their absence. Thus through no fault of theirs they are often blamed for misreporting or missing the story angle. This is strange compared to what happens in parliaments elsewhere.
The less said about the difficulties in assessing documents on time for stories the better, not to talk about researching on a particular issue by journalists. In some cases, media personnel had to break rules and enter out-of-bound areas, such as the printing room, where photocopies of documents are done. But even that they have become used to the phrase “We have run out of paper” by the officials of the Parliamentary Service.
In cases of extended sitting where journalists are privileged to be served with food, it is very common to see them carrying food in polythene bags and walking all over the place, looking for corners and shades to sit under. This is mainly because they do not have any place to sit and dine. They are not allowed to sit on the mostly empty seats that parliamentary committees use for their meetings which also serve as dining table for members of parliament (MP).
Until recently, Parliament as an institution had no hand in building the capacity of journalists, even though it is the number one beneficiary of the work or output of the members of the Parliamentary Press Corps. Even on the three occasions that the Office of Parliament sponsored a training workshop the number of participants were very limited.
Only 35 out of the over 77 members of the press corps were selected to participate in the last Parliament-sponsored training workshop for journalists, a concern that caused the dean of the corps, Andrew Edwin Arthur, to ask a very fundamental question that is still searching for an answer.
“Today, we have assembled here for this important workshop, only 35 out of our total membership of about 77 and still counting more, so the question, how do we impart same knowledge to our brothers and sisters who did not get the opportunity to be here?”
As usual, the Office of Parliament claimed it was constrained to limit the number due to inadequate budgetary support. It is on this bit that Arthur prayed the Office of Parliament to look for other sources of funding or better still seek other avenues to train these journalists who were deselected so as to bring them also in line with the corps’ resolve to improving parliamentary reporting in the country.
While on this bit, it is worth noting the efforts of some democratic institutions in Ghana in supporting the Parliamentary Press Corps in its capacity building efforts. Key institutions such as the Office of the Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), the Lands Administration Project (LAP), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) among others will forever remain in the good books of the PPC.
Just recently, with support of the Canadian Parliamentary Centre (CPC), about five members of the PPC visited the Ontario Legislative Assembly in Canada on a two-week study visit.
Led by the dean of the corps, Andrew Edwin Arthur, the delegation met with the Speaker and Clerk of the Ontario Legislature and held discussions on how best to help Ghana’s press corps to improve on the discharge of its core mandate.
Ghana’s delegation managed to strike a deal with their Canadian counterparts for an exchange programme, and this has already received the necessary approvals from the appropriate quarters and arrangements are already far fetched for the first delegation of seven to move from Ghana in December of this year.
“What this means is that, starting from December this year, we should be able to send seven of our members on an attachment in the form of an exchange programme to the Ontario Legislative Assembly for a period of about one month, and they would in turn do same,” Arthur stated last week when he briefed members of the corps about the outcome of the trip.
He noted that the deal falls in line with the vision of the current executives of the PPC to give their entire membership international exposure and to equip them with the skills and knowledge to be abreast with the changing trends in parliamentary reporting.
As elating as the news is however, the corps is currently mind rumbling about how to secure funding to finance its part of the agreement of accommodating and feeding seven Canadian journalists for about a month. Members of the PPC have therefore been tasked to use their mediums to seek funding to enable this noble vision to come to fruition.
Starting this Monday also, the Canadian Parliamentary Centre and the World Bank Institute, are collaborating with the Parliamentary Press Corps for a video conference training programme, which is further aimed at building the capacity of members of the PPC in parliamentary reporting.
According to Arthur, “The corps plays a very crucial role in deepening parliamentary democracy and good governance in Ghana, but we operate under very severe constraints, notable among them are lack of telephones to transmit our reports, lack of access to computers and lack of access to the internet.
These and other myriad of constraints militating against us have contributed in no small measure in affecting our performance. While urging my colleagues to always endeavour to approach their work with professionalism, let me humbly call on the Office of Parliament to ensure that we are at least comfortable,” he pleaded.
The President of the GJA, Ransford Tetteh, urged the parliamentary reporters to endeavour to be professional and committed to their call to make their reportage credible and relevant.
“From all indications, experience is so vital in the coverage of Parliament and it is for this reason that the GJA wishes to appeal to media houses to keep their reporters on the parliamentary beat as long as possible to enable them to acquire the necessary experience which tremendously enhances specialization process,” Tetteh stated.
He hinted at the association’s intentions to honour parliamentary reporters who excel during GJA’s awards for excellence in journalism.
“Our democracy has come of age and it is essential to recognize journalists who have made the greatest contribution to the promotion of parliamentary democracy in the country,” he said.
While expressing the hope that the award for parliamentary reporting will be included in the 2009 GJA awards slated for August 2010, he also expressed worry about funding for the awards and prayed the Parliamentary Service to assist in that endeavour.
Dawuro.com learnt that it was lack of funds that prevented the corps from being awarded the parliamentary beat last year.
Corporate institutions and individuals are therefore kindly requested to assist the PPC in cash or kind so they can continue to contribute their quota in building Ghana’s democracy.
Press Freedom: France overtaken by Ghana
The new international press freedom index, from Reporters Without Borders (RSF), confirms a sound democratic well being among a group of African countries. This is against a backdrop of many European democracies who, by virtue of this index, are losing their grip on press freedom, one of the premier pillars of the principle of democracy.
France finds itself in the 43rd position this year, behind Ghana and three other young African democracies. Despite this encouraging data among African countries, the general situation of press freedom on the continent is still far from impressive.
Is France still a model of press freedom? Not so sure, judging from the new press freedom index released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) last Tuesday. France, a historical force to reckon with is — as far as human rights is concerned — 43rd in the standings, just ahead of Cape Verde (44th) and far behind budding African democracies including Ghana, Mali, South Africa and Namibia, in 27th , 30th, 33rd and 35th positions respectively. According to RSP, these countries are among some of the most respectful of press freedom, worldwide. RSF insists that democracy is built on solid foundations and that freedom is guaranteed in the 5 African countries that appear among the top 50 on their index.
Continuing its progressive slump from 2002, when the first RSF index on press freedom was released, France lost 8 points this year after an equally unimpressive 2008 rankings. In 2002, France was number 11. Since then, Journalists have found themselves “summoned by the police" while been "forced to reveal their sources,” regrets Jean-Francois Julliard, Secretary General of RSF. "The interference of political authorities, including the Head of State, Nicolas Sarkozy” is also pinned in the RSF report.
Although significant progress has been made in recent years in Africa (at the expense of several traditionally democratic European nations like France, Italy or Spain), the overall state of freedom of press is still worrying on the continent. Madagascar, which was the scene of a violent political upheaval this year, lost 40 points, as it nosedived into the 134th position. The Congo, where the opposition journalist Bruno Jacquet Ossébi died under murky circumstances, also falls 24 points to 116th position.
Guinea, where a demonstration was violently suppressed last September 28, remains at the 100th place. Niger, recently suspended from the Economic Community of African States (ECOWAS) following a highly contested legislative elections declined 9 points, setting camp at a dismal 139th position. Surprisingly, Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe (136th), following the renowned journalist, Jestina Mukoko’s kidnapping and eventual imprisonment, gains 15 points! RSF indicates that, an announcement by the government of national unity, this summer, to return the BBC, CNN and the Independent daily newspaper, The Daily News (...) has brought some hope. Mauritania, where General Ould Abdel Aziz’s election went smoothly in July 2009, has assembled a few points. Not surprisingly, Sudan (148th), Rwanda (157th), Equatorial Guinea (158th), Somalia (164th) and Eritrea (175th), fought for bottom spots.
North Africa falls
North Africa has seen a marked decline in press freedom in recent years and is hardly better off. Algeria lost 20 points in one year, sporting the 141st place. Morocco descended to 127th position, down five points. It must be noted that this year, the northern African kingdom banned and seized newspapers while slapping media houses and journalists with lawsuits. Tunisia, where President Ben Ali has won a 5th consecutive term, got the prize of the worst country for press freedom in North Africa.
The 2009 international press freedom index, was put together by RSF, between September 1 2008 and 1 September 2009. Data collection involved a questionnaire, which identified some 40 points, ranging from attacks against journalists (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, disappearances, monitoring, etc..) to various forms of pressure that may be exerted on the Media (fines, censures, seizures, searches, advertising boycotts, etc..).
Source:
afrik
France finds itself in the 43rd position this year, behind Ghana and three other young African democracies. Despite this encouraging data among African countries, the general situation of press freedom on the continent is still far from impressive.
Is France still a model of press freedom? Not so sure, judging from the new press freedom index released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) last Tuesday. France, a historical force to reckon with is — as far as human rights is concerned — 43rd in the standings, just ahead of Cape Verde (44th) and far behind budding African democracies including Ghana, Mali, South Africa and Namibia, in 27th , 30th, 33rd and 35th positions respectively. According to RSP, these countries are among some of the most respectful of press freedom, worldwide. RSF insists that democracy is built on solid foundations and that freedom is guaranteed in the 5 African countries that appear among the top 50 on their index.
Continuing its progressive slump from 2002, when the first RSF index on press freedom was released, France lost 8 points this year after an equally unimpressive 2008 rankings. In 2002, France was number 11. Since then, Journalists have found themselves “summoned by the police" while been "forced to reveal their sources,” regrets Jean-Francois Julliard, Secretary General of RSF. "The interference of political authorities, including the Head of State, Nicolas Sarkozy” is also pinned in the RSF report.
Although significant progress has been made in recent years in Africa (at the expense of several traditionally democratic European nations like France, Italy or Spain), the overall state of freedom of press is still worrying on the continent. Madagascar, which was the scene of a violent political upheaval this year, lost 40 points, as it nosedived into the 134th position. The Congo, where the opposition journalist Bruno Jacquet Ossébi died under murky circumstances, also falls 24 points to 116th position.
Guinea, where a demonstration was violently suppressed last September 28, remains at the 100th place. Niger, recently suspended from the Economic Community of African States (ECOWAS) following a highly contested legislative elections declined 9 points, setting camp at a dismal 139th position. Surprisingly, Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe (136th), following the renowned journalist, Jestina Mukoko’s kidnapping and eventual imprisonment, gains 15 points! RSF indicates that, an announcement by the government of national unity, this summer, to return the BBC, CNN and the Independent daily newspaper, The Daily News (...) has brought some hope. Mauritania, where General Ould Abdel Aziz’s election went smoothly in July 2009, has assembled a few points. Not surprisingly, Sudan (148th), Rwanda (157th), Equatorial Guinea (158th), Somalia (164th) and Eritrea (175th), fought for bottom spots.
North Africa falls
North Africa has seen a marked decline in press freedom in recent years and is hardly better off. Algeria lost 20 points in one year, sporting the 141st place. Morocco descended to 127th position, down five points. It must be noted that this year, the northern African kingdom banned and seized newspapers while slapping media houses and journalists with lawsuits. Tunisia, where President Ben Ali has won a 5th consecutive term, got the prize of the worst country for press freedom in North Africa.
The 2009 international press freedom index, was put together by RSF, between September 1 2008 and 1 September 2009. Data collection involved a questionnaire, which identified some 40 points, ranging from attacks against journalists (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, disappearances, monitoring, etc..) to various forms of pressure that may be exerted on the Media (fines, censures, seizures, searches, advertising boycotts, etc..).
Source:
afrik
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