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NMC petitions govt about challenges facing NTC

The National Media Commission (NMC) has petitioned the government about the numerous challenges facing the New Times Corporation (NTC) especially the huge debts owed the corporation by state institutions through newspaper supplies and government advertisement placements.

The current unpaid debts by Ministries, Departments and Agencies and other governmental institutions are affecting the finances of the NTC to continue publishing its flagship Ghanaian Times newspaper and The Spectator, a weekly publication.

Among other issues raised in the petition addressed to President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is the current impasse between the NTC and its former Managing Director, Kofi Asuman and the huge debt owed by clients, the Chairman of the Commission, Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, has disclosed.

As a result of the impasse, the former MD has sought a court garnishee order on the corporation’s bank accounts, which has since been granted by an Accra High Court.

By the order, the NTC is to pay Mr Asuman a total sum of GH₵515, 186.69 judgement debt awarded him in 2017, where it has so far paid GH₵237,107.

Briefing the staff and management on the status of the matter and the financial position of the NTC, Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh said, it was in the interest of the government to safeguard the NTC as a state property  belonging to the Ghanaian people against the interest of an individual; though legal.

“We NMC have written to the government through the Information Minister to intervene in the matter because it is of public interest,” Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh, a former Director of News at the Daily Graphic Communications Group told the staff in Accra yesterday.

He said though all legal rights available had been exhausted, the NMC  was taking steps to resolve the impasse between the two parties.

Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh believed government could intervene in various ways to support the NTC in defraying the debt.

An example of what the government could do in supporting the NTC financially to defray the cost was by ensuring that Ministries, Departments and Agencies indebted to the corporation honoured their indebtedness, the NMC Chairman noted.

Thanking the staff and management of the NTC for being patient and enduring hardship as a result of the impasse, Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh assured the workers that “we are in this together.”

BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI

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