GBC gets new Governing Board
The reconstituted governing board of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) has been inaugurated with a charge to members, to among other duties, adopt policies and strategies that will make the corporation financially independent.
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The Chairman of the National Media Commission ( NMC), Mr Kabral Blay-Amihere, who inaugurated the board, said the GBC was one of six state-owned enterprises which had been earmarked to wean themselves off government subvention.
He said accordingly, the NMC expected the current board to lead the GBC on that journey towards financial sustainability and independence.
Mr Blay-Amihere said all state-owned media, like other state-owned companies, were required to be profit-making and not a burden to the state.
The board members, under the chairmanship of Mr Richard Kwame Asante, include Mr Prince William Ankrah, Mr Oscar Bruce, Mr Mohammed Aminu Futa and Ms Rose Bulla.
The other members are: Dr Grace Ayensu Danquah, Professor Linus Abraham, Mr Kojo Mattah, Ms Jennifer Amanda Coffie and Major Albert Don-Chebe (retd), the Director-General of the GBC.
Challenge
Mr Blay-Amihere noted that the challenges associated with gaining financial freedom were numerous and suggested the payment of TV licence fees as one option.
“Luckily, the last board under the chairmanship of Mr Richard Kwame Asante successfully got the necessary parliamentary cover for the resumption of the TV Licence Fee. We commend the board and management for this great feat,” Mr Blay-Amihere added.
The board was also tasked to oversee the full establishment of a broadcasting college which would serve GBC and the broadcasting industry.
Mr Blay-Amihere said another area that should engage the attention of the board was the encroachment of GBC lands by the public.
He said protecting those lands and adding value to them through transparent and prudent land management could be a source of revenue that will ensure the financial independence of GBC.
He charged the board to effectively supervise and ensure that subsidiaries of the GBC prudently managed the state’s fiscal resources entrusted to them to ensure their sustainability and generation of profit.
Be supervisors not managers
Mr Blay-Amihere asked the members of the governing board to desist from assuming the role of micro-managers instead of being supervisors.
“We have seen situations in some of the state-owned media where governing boards in their desire to produce results, ended up literarily as quasi-staff who logged in at several committee meetings with such regularity that caused some tensions,” he said.
He called on the board to adopt policies that would ensure a peaceful industrial atmosphere which was needed for the attainment of the goals and mission of GBC.
According to him, the governing boards of the state-owned media did not owe any allegiance to any interest group and, therefore, their loyalty needed to be to only the 1992 Constitution.
On behalf of the board members, the Chairman, Mr Richard Asante, promised the NMC that it would work relentlessly to realise the government’s dream for GBC.
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