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By Isaac Ato MENSAH
\nAccra \u2013 26 April, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When she said, \u201cI shall speak from the heart,\u201d it became a poor speech delivery moment for Ursula Owusu Ekuful, Ghana’s minister for communications. What followed was a public relations disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was when she inaugurated (\u201cdedicated\u201d) the Wisconsin University studios in Accra on Wednesday.
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In the end, she stated: \u201cHis Excellency President Akufo-Addo has told the nation he is in a hurry, so he has given all of us [appointees] the marching orders\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is not a petty matter, for, I had to take time to explain to university students studying communications the import of this matter before they could appreciate it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ghana’s communications minister should be pardoned because that is what she is exposed to, but students need to be taught so we shall continue to offer \u201ca moral and intellectual guide to the best practice of PR and integrated communications\u201d in order to elevate the standard of public discourse and to expose mediocrity. It is a tough job in the current environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you think, this matter is not important, then hear this; only one student could explain that to be given the marching orders is to be sacked. And the classroom fell silent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had to explain that that was not what the minister meant to say, hence the need to stick to your prepared speech. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Owusu Ekuful had rendered a public apology to her speech writers for their efforts spent in researching her speech.
But she explained that having listened attentively to Prof Kwame Karikari, the dean of Wisconsin School of Communication Studies, she had decided not to use her prepared speech! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What did Prof Karikari have to say?
Kwame Karikari had stated that the minister was his niece and urged her to consider a community\/campus radio license for the university. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ursula Owusu Ekuful, acknowledged Karikari as her uncle; Prof Obeng Mireku, the vice chancellor as an old friend; and Justice Isaac Duose, the University Council chair, as an in-law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It will stand to reason, most plausibly, that at least these three persons had discussed the community radio frequency request with her earlier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what was the point about her going to \u201ctalk to NCA but I will not promise?\u201d.
Was the prepared speech going to tell us that as a matter of government policy, universities and other underserved communities will not be granted licenses to operate community radio stations?
Or was the prepared speech going to expose poor policy options chosen by the government of Ghana over the years?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u201cspeak from the heart\u201d speech also veered into \u201cboot for boot\u201d to parody the opposition, and the \u201csleepless nights\u201d government appointees have about libelous \u201cFacebook\u201d chatter as Ghana enters into the 2020 elections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She therefore urged Online Journalism practitioners such as myself to address such matters of libel on Facebook, other social media platforms and the convergent media generally, so that they the policy makers can learn from such useful content and be guided accordingly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uhmmmm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ok, let us talk then about community radio as a development communication tool which ensures social justice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the latest figures available from National Communications Authority (NCA), sent to us yesterday, Greater Accra Region, for example, has 52 Authorized FM stations of which five are community radio stations, four are campus radio stations, 38 are commercial, two are public and three are foreign radio stations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is easy to infer that the public radio stations, according to other details on the NCA website, are Uniiq FM 95.7 and Obonu FM 96.5, both of which belong to Ghana Broadcasting Corporation. Obonu FM, uses many languages, especially on important national occasions and in sports commentary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of the five community radio stations, only Radio Latenu 96.1MHz, is devoted to promoting Ga language and culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you want to promote the development of the Ga people, who are swallowed up in a region of under 2 million indigenees to over three million non-indigenees, then you need more Ga community radio stations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you add what Prof Elizabeth Aardefio-Schandorf, the Ghanaian geographer, calls \u201cthe mobile population of Accra\u201d, those who commute daily to and from the nation’s capital, then the Ga people are really under siege. And this is crucial this year, 2019, declared by United Nations as the International Year of Indigenous Languages (IYIL 2019). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How else will you educate the illiterate among the Ga against open defecation and why will they buy into your national population policy, for example, when you have thrust 38 commercial radio stations upon them, a double dozen of which are broadcasting in Twi?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This question demands an answer; an honest and intelligent answer; not a ghana answer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A quote from the NCA website should inspire all Ghanaians and all readers to call for the due exercise of reverse discrimination in favour of the Ga. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCoverage classification:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maximum coverage radius is 45km for Commercial and Public Foreign FM radio broadcasting stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maximum coverage radius for Community and Campus FM radio broadcasting stations is 5km. In cases where the definition of the community and the terrain require a variation, the Authority shall make extensions to the coverage area but this shall not exceed 25km in any case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There we go! Are the commercial radio stations not exceeding their km radius prescribed and even doing syndicate broadcasts across the nation, thereby stifling the development of other radio stations outside the major capitals? No ghana answer here please!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is it difficult for NCA to allocate 5KM radius frequencies for providing information, education and entertainment to a group with such challenging and we daresay continuously deteriorating demographic characteristics and human development indices as the Ga? No ghana answer should dare to be proferred!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With respect to Campus radio stations, Ghana has a Gross Tertiary Enrollment Ratio (GER) of 16 percent. If that figure must rise to 40 percent by 2030, as envisaged by the Reform Secretariat of Ghana’s Ministry of Education, then her tertiary students need campus radio stations that will set the proper standards of Online Journalism so that government appointees will not have sleepless nights dreaming about \u201cmarching orders\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When it comes to the presentation of facts, evidence and reason, my mentor beckons: \u201cIf you say you will talk\u2026..\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And he has absolutely no patience for ghana answers; none for ignorance and dishonesty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ursula Owusu Ekuful has indeed spoken from her heart, hasn\u2019t she? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Feedback; ato@writersghana.com; LinkedIn, Isaac Ato Mensah; Instagram, @atomenswriters; Twitter, @Atomens; Facebook, Isaac Ato Mensah; Telegram, Isaac Ato Mensah; Quora, Isaac Ato Mensah. WhatsApp (233) 020 022 0353.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Writers and Shakespeares Ghana Limited exist to be a moral and intellectual guide to the best practice of PR and integrated communications around the world, beginning with Ghana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"