GNA -most credible media house - Parliament

Accra, Dec. 17, GNA - Parliament on Friday extolled the contributions of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) as the most credible media house that dish out news from all nooks of the country.

The eulogy of the GNA surfaced when the House debated budget allocations for the Ministry of Information under which GNA falls. The Ministry, which experienced a slashed budget was granted GH¢32,861,104.00 as against a request of GH¢123,491,866.28. Members described such a reduction as unacceptable.

Mr Fritz Baffour of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and membe= r for Ablekuma South said the GNA was the most credible media organization that fished news from all corners of Ghana, adding that it was the source= of subscription for all media houses in the country. "GNA gives credible information day by day subscribe by all media hou= ses in Ghana," he said.

He said it was sad that with this contribution the GNA's facilities were not only obsolete but almost at the verge of collapse.

Mr Baffour said the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation's story was different from the rest of the agencies, adding "the Ministry of Informat= ion building is in a sad state." Mr Joe Baidoe-Ansah, New Patriotic Party Member for Effia Kwesiminti= m, said the NDC described 2011 as an action year, but did not reflect in mon= ey allocations for the various ministries including the Information Ministry= .. He said the GNA' structures were so dilapidated that it was very dangerous to the workers.

Mrs Catherine Afeku, NPP member for Evalue-Gwira, said in an era of information, she did not understand why the budget of the Information Ministry should be truncated to such a level.

She noted that the Government's proposed information policy was yet to see the light of day.

Mrs Afeku said the mandate of the Ministry was to get government policies across to people everywhere in the country and wondered if such amount was enough for the task.

"Information is the backbone of development," she said. Other budgetary allocations approved by Parliament included, the Ministry of Defence, GH¢205,480,761.00; Ministry of Interior, GH¢301,933,392.00; Judicial Service, GH¢50,384,261.00; Parliamentary Service, GH¢36,885,489.00; Commission for Human Right and Administrativ= e Justice, GH¢8,777,644 and the Electoral Commission, GH¢25,399,946. 17 Dec. 10