Parliament to formulate communication policy

Dodowa (GAR), Oct. 15, GNA -Parliament would soon formulate a communication policy through its Public Affairs Department to promote public understanding of parliamentary activities.

Mr Emmanuel Anyimadu, Clerk to Parliament, on Thursday announced that: "The policy will also ensure that in considering a request for information from the public, people are not discriminated against or given special treatment on the basis of their social, political and religious affiliation". Mr. Anyimadu announced this at the beginning of a two-day training workshop organized by the office of the Parliament for the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) at Dodowa near Accra.

Under the theme: "Entrenching Parliamentary Democracy in Ghana: The Role of PPC", the workshop will delve into topics such as the ethical dimension of parliamentary reporting, legislative process and passage of Bill, significant of standing orders and the constitution, contribution of Parliamentary reporting to good governance.

Mr. Anyimadu said the establishment of a communication policy would require constant interaction with the media to ensure accuracy and timeliness in parliamentary reportage.

He said the media had an important role in promoting good governance and entrenched democracy by exhibiting a high level of neutrality and impartiality and appealed to the management of various media houses to consider investing in the upgrading of their staff to be abreast of current trends in politics.

Mr Ransford Tetteh, President, Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), appealed to the office of Parliament to monitor and select best parliamentary reporters to be awarded in subsequent national GJA awards. He commended the office of Parliament for organizing training programmes for PPC which he said: "ideally should be the responsibility of the management of the various media houses.

Mr Andrew Edwin Arthur, Dean of the PPC, said the leadership was liaising with the Canadian Parliamentary Press Corp to establish a month exchange programme for members of both countries and called on Parliament and donor organizations to support them execute their part of the agreement. He said the PPC would soon come out with parliamentary reporting ethics and appealed to the office of Parliament to make arrangements that would enable correspondence file stories without going to their various offices long after proceedings to do so. 15 Oct. 09