The Board of Directors of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) has submitted proposals to the National Media Commission (NMC) aimed at the re-organization of the operations of the Agency to turn around its fortunes.

The Board led by its Chairman, Mr Reginald Laryea, presented a document titled: “Re-capitalisation and Re-organisation of the Ghana News Agency”, to the Chairman of the National Media Commission, Mr Kabral Blay Amihere at a meeting of the two sides in Accra.

The Executive Summary of the document recommends that the government takes a very serious view of the Agency to make it survive as its primary news organization.

“We have had various meetings and durbars with the staff and have determined that for the organization to survive, it would need a massive capitalization, rebranding and reorganization.”

It said to accomplish this Board was of the view that experts in various fields should be contracted to present strategic proposals for the approval of government.

The Board said the successful implementation of these strategic proposals would ensure that GNA was well positioned to anticipate and respond to change while honouring essential characteristics that make it a unique Agency in gathering and dissemination of news.

“With globalization and innovation in technology, there has been a virtual revolution in the world of news and the information explosion has created a highly competitive environment leading to changes in the significance, approach and working mechanism of news agencies today.”

It said the strategic proposals, through a series of goals, objectives and specific actions backed by capitalization should provide the GNA of today with the roadmap to achieve its strategic goals in an efficient and cost effective manner in a highly competitive environment that was also mutually rewarding.

Mr Laryea, in his remarks, noted that the Ghana News Agency, the first news agency south of the Sahara, had survived turbulent times in the recent past.

He identified the main challenges as underfunding, lack of effective leadership, stagnation of training, poor conditions of service and lack of adequate equipment.

“With the right level of investment, we believe growth can be achieved,” Mr Laryea said.

He said the position of the government on the future of the GNA was very important, explaining, “The commitment of the government is needed for the survival of the GNA.”

“We, as a Board, have found that GNA is more relevant now than before and we should fight to make the Agency a credible source of information.”

Alhaji Abdul-Rahman Harruna Attah, a member of the Board, said the GNA was relevant but not from the commercial point.

He noted that morale was very low because of poor working conditions and argued that the Agency needed to be treated as special case and funded adequately to play its role in the development of the country.

Alhaji Harruna Attah called for the review of the Legislative Instrument on GNA, which is outmoded.

Nana Yaa Afadzinu, a member of the Board, said the Agency needed recapitalization to improve its news collection and dissemination functions.

Mr Mawusi Afele, Acting General Manager, noted that GNA, as a wire service, played a peculiar role and appealed to the NMC to take the Agency as a “project” to seek government and public support for it to play its role effectively.

Members of the NMC agreed that GNA needed to be positioned as a reliable source of information for the socio-economic development of the country.

Mr Blay Amihere thanked the Board for its initiative and said the Commission would study the document and seek audience with the Vice President to discuss how to turn the Agency around.**