Minister Orders Cut Down On Newspaper Subscription

The Minister of Manpower Development and Employment, Mrs. Cecilia Bannerman, has on her assumption of duty ordered a drastic cut on her ministry's subscription to newspapers, with the view of cutting down on government expenditure.

As such, the Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment which hitherto subscribed to twenty-three issues of both the Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times daily, now subscribes to only two issues of the Daily Graphic and three issues of the Ghanaian Times daily. The only private paper that the ministry currently subscribes to is a copy of The Ghanaian Chronicle daily.

Investigations conducted by The Independent revealed that this directive which came into force somewhere in June this year, is however proving to be detrimental to the public relations outfit, as monitoring of publications about the ministry has virtually been made impossible.

Ironically though, is the proven fact that the Employment Minister has after issuing the directive, taken delivery of a brand new model of a VW Passat salon car as her official vehicle and parked a Toyota Corolla car she was using before then, though it is still in good condition.

An attempt to ascertain from the Minister the criteria she used in selecting the number and type of newspapers her outfit should subscribe to and whether the slash in number had resulted in the intended purpose of cutting down cost, however drew a blank. Several attempts to have her comment proved futile, as she was always unavailable.

Her Public Relations Officer, Mr. K. O. Dabri who spoke on her behalf confirmed the story, saying, "yes, that's a fact, her reason is to cut down on cost." He intimated that the minister herself drew his attention to a publication in the 'Free Press' on the austere measure she's taken on the assumption of office, after the directive had taken effect. He maintained that as all facts stated in that publication was right, there was no way he could write a rejoinder to dispute them.

Asked how the minister was able to come by the current subscription rate and why she chose The Ghanaian Chronicle out of a host of other private newspapers, the P.R.O. said, "I don't know from what perspective she did that, I don't know her criteria for the choice of Chronicle," adding "I work on instructions.".

Mr. Dabri further divulged that no other ministry has cut down on its subscription to newspapers apart from the Employment Ministry. "As at today, to the best of my knowledge I am not aware", he intoned when asked if he knew of any other ministry that has cut its subscription to the tabloids..

This, the P.R.O. said he found out two weeks ago from colleagues in other ministries who said they hadn't received any directive from their ministers to that effect. He however intimated that he was not in the position to tell if the cut in subscription had resulted in any significant gains to the ministry.