The Minister for Information, Honourable Fatimatu Abubakar has urged the media to support the Ministry to push for the passage of the Broadcasting Bill into law. According to her, the bill has received the biggest push under the current regime and needed support to prevent it from hanging.
“I believe you are aware that over the past few years, we’ve invited stakeholders on the draft broadcasting bill. We’ve done validation exercises, we’ve been going to the AG back, and we’ve called for input among others. Earlier this year, we got a final draft, which we sent back to the AG’s office for their comments. We’ve received the comments, but looking at the scope of work, that is what I must say, so far as the draft is concerned, we are about 90% through with the scope of work, based on the inputs that have come from our stakeholders. That being said, we know that in terms of the draft we are at the final stage,” she emphasized.
She said the draft Bill has gone through several stages and currently is at its final stage hoping to be tabled before parliament soon.
Hon. Abubakar made the remarks when she visited the Multimedia Group Limited as part of her tour of some media organizations in Accra.
The Minister urged management to take advantage and participate in the 3rd Cohort of the Media Capacity Enhancement Programme (MCEP) which is expected to train 100 journalists across the country. She indicated that the programme has trained about 140 journalists since it was launched.
Hon. Abubakar reminded management about the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM) and the coordinated mechanism on the safety of journalists as other media support programmes initiated by the Ministry to support the media sector.
The Minister stressed Government’s commitment to ensuring an enabling environment for journalists and the media to operate and called for greater collaboration between the media and government to deepen the country’s democracy.
On their part, Ken Ansah, the Chief Executive Officer of the Multimedia Group Limited noted that standards in other spaces are dropping and things are going in directions that do not reflect how a media space should be and thus will support any regulation to control the media space.
The Multimedia group expressed its appreciation to the Minister for the funding support it received from IFPIM and pledged to deliver on its mandate.
SOURCE: (MOI PR Unit)
