Spio-Garbrah Vists New Times Coporation, & GIJ

Accra, Aug 13, - Mr Ekow Spio-Garbrah, Minister of Communications, has stressed the need for divestiture at the New Times Corporation to be accelerated. This, he said, would among other things help address the issue of lack of capital for the provision of modern equipment at the corporation. Mr Spio-Garbrah, who made the call when he paid a familiarization visit to the corporation on Tuesday, pointed out that the corporation's capable and enthusiastic staff should be encouraged to work hard to improve upon its fortunes. Accompanied by Mr John Mahama, his deputy, Mr Spio-Garbrah gave the assurance that his Ministry would cooperate with management and staff of Times to improve production levels. The Minister, who was taken round the editorial, commercial, advertising and printing sections among others, advised the workers to work hard. Mr Spio-Garbrah said that was the only way by which the corporation could service its debts and meet workers' demands for salary increases. He assured the workers that his Ministry and that of Employment and Social Welfare are jointly working hard to resolve issues that led to the recent impasse at the corporation. Mr Spio-Garbrah charged management to evolve a policy that would ensure that diligent workers are rewarded to boost their morale. He advised management to always open lines of communication not only to enhance trust and confidence but to also help defuse tension and anxiety among the workers. Mr Oliver Bonsi, acting General Manager of the corporation, praised the local union and management for their cooperation and support and assured them that he would consult them on matters affecting the workers. At The Ghana Institute Of Journalism (GIJ), Mr Spio-Garbrah, urged subvented organizations to explore avenues to improve upon their financial positions so as to meet their recurrent expenditures. He said subvented organizations should not depend solely on traditional sources of funds from the national budget which he said are meant for vital and specific services. Mr Spio-Garbrah, who was continuing his familiarization tour of organizations under his ministry, was reacting to complaints by the academic staff of the Ghana Institute of Journalism(GIJ) over inadequate budgetary allocations to meet their requirements. The Director of the Institute, Mr David Newton, had told the minister that because of poor remuneration and conditions of service, lecturers were not motivated to give of their best. He said qualified people were not attracted to take up teaching appointments with the institute. Mr Newton appealed for more money to enable the GIJ to pay the staff adequately and procure facilities like computers, vehicles, and reference books. The institute, he said, also needs money to complete its new site at Okponglo, near Legon. Mr Spio-Garbrah appealed to the staff not to confine themselves to only academic work but use their academic expertise and creativity to generate additional funds. He said as teachers of most of those practising journalism, advertising and public relations in the country, they could consider giving media practitioners and their sector institutions a variety of remedial courses at a fee. He suggested the setting up of a consultancy within GIJ to provide commercial houses and other organizations with the needed audience and attitude research data, information and public relations service for a fee. The minister told the staff to look into the possibility of establishing relations with institutions overseas to support development programmes of the institute while making its programmes more eligible for donor support. Mr Spio-Garbrah asked them to build bridges of cooperation with NGO's, foundations and international bodies and look for opportunities to dovetail their expertise into their development programmes to win assistance. He appealed to them to take advantage of innovations in telecommunications and audio-visual technology to consider embarking on long distance education programmes to enable more students to benefit from their courses.