Information and Media Relations in Ghana

Interview with Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Deputy Minister of Information and Media Relations

Could you give us an overview of the media sector in Ghana. What are the challenges the sector is facing and where do you want to lead the sector in the next four years?

We have a very vibrant media sector in Ghana. In fact, we pride ourselves on having the most vibrant and the most independent media in the whole of Africa. You have had an opportunity to monitor the media, both electronic and print, and you will find that on a daily basis the government is subject to intense scrutiny over a broad range of issues. We are happy to encourage that atmosphere that allows media personnel to express themselves freely, investigate issues that they find interesting, and to hold government accountable.

Media freedom is enshrined in our constitution so practitioners in that sector draw inspiration from that. Vibrancy does not necessarily translate into professionalism and we do have a situation where many people join the media fraternity as a last resort. They may be people who have been unsuccessful in other endeavors and find solace in the media. So we have situations where people are not really trained to work professionally but are learning on the job. That has its own limitations because often ethics and professionalism are sacrificed on the altar of the rights for free speech and a decent livelihood. So the main challenge is to ensure that media practitioners carry out their trade in a manner that does not undermine the ethics of the profession, that does not gloss over the need to be professional, the need to be balanced, the need to be accurate and all that.

Another challenge is that we do not have enough specialization in various fields. Many people cover the news generally, especially sensational and political stories. There is very little specialization in terms of education, health, environment, social issues, gender, human rights and other such related matters. We have tried over the years to enhance the capacity of media practitioners across the board. Not too long ago, there was an institution called the Ghana Institute of Journalism; that was the country’s primary institution where journalists were trained. It used to be under this ministry but at some time they gained autonomy so they have been placed under another agency. We have tried to support that agency to come up with programs that train journalists properly, that gives them a focus on what they ought to do and also encourages them to enter various areas that they have a newfound interest in.

We have discovered oil and gas and there’s a niche there that unfortunately not many journalists are exploring. If you have people who are working in a sector, they are able to monitor activities in that sector and are even able to monitor how resources accruing from the expectations of our oil reserves are used to enhance the welfare of Ghanaians. The lack of knowledge in the sector does not bode well for proper scrutiny of government’s use of resources from that sector.

But we can overcome that challenge. We set up a fund that we call the Media Development Fund which is a fund under this ministry. The objective is to be able to resource people who are interested in pursuing journalism and boost their capacity and improve on their ability to perform their job. As and when we receive requests for assistance in terms of training of journalists, we are happy to support them. We also ensure that from time to time we assess them to make sure they are overcoming some of their challenges.

We as a government are not too much in favor of regulating the media. We believe more in creating space for them to practice. I’m happy to say, for instance, that in Ghana there’s not a single prisoner who has been thrown into jail because of a view that he or she has expressed in a newspaper or because of how he or she did his or her work as a journalist.

If you look at Ghana compared to a lot of different countries in Africa, Asia, or other countries in the world, that is quite outstanding. How do you think Ghana has reached this level of openness?

Like I said, if you study our history critically, there were points at which media freedom became an issue prior to the enactment of the 1992 constitution. We had a series of military regimes which sought to oppress the right to free expression and invariably also targeted some media houses and journalists for ill treatment. In 1992 when we decided to adopt a constitutional style of governance and we put in place institutions that would support these new efforts to introduce constitutional governance, we made sure that we enshrined those freedom in our constitutions – those rights of the media to practice.

There’s an embodiment of the beliefs that exist within our media practitioners that they are an important stakeholder in our government and for that reason, there must be no fetters on the kind of work that they do. As a people we generally frown on clamping down on the activities of the media and you find that on a daily basis. The media provides a platform to air their views. Some very stinging attacks are launched at the government, even at the person of the president, but we do not use a socialist state to needlessly harass journalists who are doing their job. That is what accounts for Ghana’s better performance as compared to other countries. In other jurisdictions, you cannot criticize the president and get off lightly; you may suffer severe penalties.

In Ghana, we have a liberalized environment and we are happy to encourage that but we are also wary of the penchant for people to abuse this sort of freedom and to do things to undermine our peace and stability. We like to use a moral solution rather than force or strong-arm tactics to cow the media into submission. On a constant basis, people in a moral society engage the media and admonish them to understand the role that they play and appreciate that if they do not watch out and act in a proper manner, it could jeopardize our peace. We all stand to lose as a nation. We are happy to have that track record and we in fact intend to work even harder to improve our position and ensure that they do not just practice freely but are given the resources that enable them to practice freely and participate in a manner that is ultimately beneficial to the country as a whole.

What do you think are the limits of press freedom?

In Ghana, there are no limitations, certainly not from a legislative and governance point of view. If there are limitations, it is a lack of adequate training for the practitioners and so you find that they engage in actions that they should not be engaged in. But government as an institution does not set out to put any limitations on the work of the media.

There is an independent body called the National Media Commission that is charged with the responsibility of regulating the activities of the media but even they do not have prosecutorial powers. They do not have the power to limit the scope within which the media can practice. They have mechanisms that they use to ensure people comply with basic standards of the profession but it is not punitive in nature. We as a government are not mandated to put limitations in the way of journalists. As and when we are concerned, we express our concern and we try very much to engage the media and meet them halfway in terms of addressing the constraints that may lead to those limitations that you speak about. Ultimately, we do not think that the way to go is to limit the freedoms of the media and the freedoms of practitioners of that trade in Ghana.

What do you think is your role as a deputy minister and the role of the ministry as a whole in the development of the country and the media sector and what’s your corporate social responsibility?

The history of the ministry is checkered. It came into being as a direct result of the 1948 riot where there was some sort of uprising against colonial rule. There was not enough of an interface between government and the governed and therefore it gave room for suspicion and mistrust between government on one hand and the citizens on the other. The best way to bridge that gap was to put in place a system that communicates on a regular basis. Often communication has tended to focus on a political issue but we believe more in developing communication now.

There’s a paradigm shift that says we should carry the people along and give them timely, accurate, and reliable information but do it in a manner that ensures that they buy into government’s developmental agenda and they give government support to lift them out of whatever difficulties they may have as a people. That is what we have been focused on. We use a series of engagement measures to ensure that we transmit this information in a timely manner. Only yesterday I hosted the Minister for the Interior at a program that we call Meet the Press, where on a regular basis various secretarial ministers come here to brief the media on the activities of their ministry. It is carried live on national television. We expect in the coming weeks to feature another ministry. This is something that happens year-round and is simply aimed at opening up government for scrutiny by the citizenry and also to ensure that citizens are informed about the things that government is doing with the mandates that they bestowed it with.

We also have regular press releases on many issues. When there are issues that are agitating the minds of Ghanaians, there’s a need for clarification and we are swift in doing that. We also do have regular policy fairs that ensure that various agencies and our government and sometimes even those within the private sector who are mandated to do so, come to a place where they are able to showcase their activities. It is open to the public so anybody can come and walk in and ask questions relating to the activities of any particular agency. They can seek clarification and establish contacts to ensure that they follow through to have whatever problems or difficulties they have addressed.

We also ensure that the activities of the president get to the Ghanaian public on a more sustainable basis and this is to ensure that we develop in a comprehensive and holistic fashion as a country. The role of information cannot be underestimated in any developmental process. Indeed, if you speak to people in Latin America, they will tell you that developmental communication played a key role in lifting them from a place in the doldrums into a place where they can now boast about a certain measure of comforts.

In the past, governments have not been too keen on sharing information with their citizenry. We know that we are moving into an age where people crave information on a daily basis. The advent of social media and other such policies makes it possible for information to be shared rapidly. Any government that is unwilling to open up, subject itself to scrutiny, and provide information on a consistent basis to its citizenry stands the risks of incurring the wrath of the people it presides over. We are determined to ensure that we do not place the Ghanaian citizens in a situation where they have to crave or test for information when we can do something about it.

What is your role in coordinating the activity of the presidency and informing the citizens?

I work under the Minister of Information who is ultimately responsible for all government information including information from the presidency. We play a coordinating role. On a daily basis, we ensure that we brief the citizens of this country on the activities of the president. If there are any policy positions, any programs or other activities of the presidency, on a daily basis we engage the citizens so people are aware of what is happening with the president. We call it a daily press briefing, and it is something that Ghanaians are enthused about.

Beyond that, we ensure that there’s a linkage between what the policy positions of the president are and what the ministries and agencies of the government are doing. We try to ensure that we coordinate the activities. For instance, if there is the need for some explanation of any ministry’s work, we would ensure that the ministry involved is alerted and we establish contact between those seeking information and that ministry so that the information can be conveyed. It is a model that has served us well and we intend to make it even better it so that ultimately we will achieve the objectives for which we set ourselves to be in government.

Often what happens in France, some minister may say something that goes against the government’s vision so the prime minister is suddenly wondering why the minister said that and there is conflict which is bad for the image of the whole government. Recently, one minister was sacked because he was against the policy of the government. How do you avoid that sort of thing?

I think that anybody who has followed governance would admit that disagreements within a government itself are not a bad thing because ultimately on any number of issues, people can have any number of ideas and often debate is encouraged. At the end of the day what you need to do is synthesize the various positions and come up with a position that you think is in the best interests of the country. Nonetheless, once that position has been adopted it would be expected that all members of government would buy into it and project that position and therefore it is not the best situation when people go off and say things that directly contradict what the government is saying.

We as a ministry of information and media relations are interested in ensuring that there is a harmonization of all government communication and to a large extent we have succeeded. Once in a while you have slips, as is the case everywhere but we try very hard to avoid that because it can rub off very negatively on government and it can embarrass government greatly. There have been instances in which government has been embarrassed by such slips but we keep it to the barest minimum and we expect going forward that we would have very few of such slips.

What are the challenges in the ministry of projecting the image of the country in collaboration with your agencies and media to attract foreign investment in conformance with government policy? What do you do to position Ghana internationally?

There are limitations with being an African country, as you are aware, because of the dominance of some key media outlets around the world and the tendency for Africa to be viewed as a basket case and a hopeless situation. In that way, it is sometimes very hard to go against that notion that has no foundation but has crystallized over a long period of time. For our part, we do what we can to project a very good image of Africa, which is actually the case.

If you recall, when President Mahama spoke at the United Nations last year, he indicated that a success story was brewing in Africa and he used that platform to articulate in very elegant terms what it is that Africa is doing. He indicated that of the ten fastest-growing economies, about six of them are based in Africa. Ghana is one of those; we grew at about 14.1% in 2011 and since then we have posted growth rates of about 8% per annum. We expect that this trend will continue into the foreseeable fronts. We are doing well on many fronts. We are a very stable democracy; as you can see, we just came out of peaceful elections. Many African countries are doing the same but because of the stereotype that has developed over time, it is sometimes difficult to project that story outside of Africa. As and when we have opportunity, we seize it and we tell our story.

We also have various programs that are covered by the international media. I spoke about the policy fair; it is one such platform where the government of Ghana is opened up for everybody to assess it. We expect that in the future we may have collaborations with media organizations that have the reach and scope that would enable larger global participation in a discussion about Africa in general and Ghana in particular. We continue to evolve strategies as we go to ensure that we project Ghana properly.

As you know, it is not only the media that can be used to project a country. We have various agencies that on a regular basis engage people outside Ghana on the investment opportunities that exist in Ghana. On an annual basis, billions of dollars come into the country in terms of investments.

Of course, there are areas where we can improve and we continue to look at those areas in order to ensure that we have a more robust system that attracts that sort of investment and that we are also able to beat the unfortunate narrative that has come to be associated with Africa for quite some time now. We are confident that we will succeed in the long run and significant progress has been made over the years. We think that with sustaining what we have done, we should be successful and eventually be seen in a much more positive way.