A 10-member Board of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) still chaired by Professor Emmanuel Addow-Obeng has been inaugurated on the corporation’s premises in Accra.
The new board members with a two-year mandate were sworn into office by Mr Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo, chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC).
The members of the board including three members retained from the immediate out-going one included Yaw Owusu Obeng, Dr Sarah Dzane, Alhaji Alhassan Abdulai, Prof. Samuel Debrah, Dr Charles Kwening, Forson Osei Bonsu, Mrs Efua Ghartey, Henry Kanor, Prof. Amin Alhassan, the Director-General and Prof. Emmanuel Addow-Obeng who retained his position as the Chair of the previous board.
Mr Ayeboafo appealed for calm and teamwork from the staff, management and the board to help steer the affairs of the state broadcaster to enhance accelerated development.
He said the NMC has an open door policy for all stakeholders in the corporation and asked them to cooperate with each other and work in an atmosphere of which connotes peaceful working environment.
Mr Ayeboafo said in as much as the NMC would not meddle in the internal affairs of the corporation, it would be fair if stakeholders would reciprocate by representing the authority and mandate of the NMC in dealing with public media houses.
He asked the board members to be independent-minded in the delivery of their service to the corporation since they were all selected based on their competence and capability to handle issues within the scope of work given them.
The Board Chair expressed their gratitude to the NMC and the President for the confidence reposed in them to manage the affairs of the GBC which is a national asset.
“We are aware of the enormous responsibility that has been placed on our shoulders because of the competitive nature of the media market that GBC finds itself in,” he said.
He said in today’s liberalised media landscape, GBC was into stiff competition with locally well-established media houses which have rich traditions and access to huge financial and technological resources.
“To succeed in this environment GBC needs internally stable environment and a governing body, a management team and a work force that understands their mandate and are prepared to work together as agents of change and change makers,” he said.
He said as a board, they would be mindful that they have a mandate to ensure that GBC continued to be a tool for nation building and education and play a major role in engendering national development.
“We have a responsibility to provide strategic direction to the management of GBC in order that GBC will continue and improve on providing broadcast programmes in the field of culture, education, information and entertainment that reflect national progress,” he said.
Earlier Prof. Alhassan, in a welcome address said he was glad that the board has finally taken office because the structure of corporate governance was incomplete without a board adding that the staff and management were ready and willing to open a new page in the positive transformation of the national public service broadcaster.
“We pray that you will bring your vast experience to bear on the transformation process here at GBC,” he said.
He said GBC was moving from structures that were informed by analogue broadcast technology to structures that were dictated by digital broadcast technology adding that the focus would be based on medium based on communication that were informed by content needs of audience.
BY LAWRENCE MARKWEI
