MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND NATIONALORIENTATION
A CRITICAL SECTOR TO LOOK AT
Since the inception of the name “National Orientation” to already existing Ministry of Information, many thought the government was up to mischief but it rather paying dividend when the Sector Minister launched the idea behind with five (5) pillars namely;
Proud to be Ghanaian Patriotism and the spirit of “Ghana first” Positive and a “Can Do It” Attitude Productivity and Accountability Dedication and Discipline
After all these wonderful initiative by Hon. Oboshie Sai-Cofie (Mrs.) and her entire staff, the government should assist its efforts in the course of its core duties. It needs a lot of attention by various stakeholders in order to make the people of Ghana (both living within the Urban and Rural areas) feel part of the government and the Ministry.
Public education campaigns in collaboration with all Departments and Agencies as well as other institution such as National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in respect of their programmes and projects. This development will assist other agencies to make known to the public their achievement and successes. Harmonization with regards to the operation of the Community Information Centres (CIC) of the Ministry of Communication (MOC), the Information Centres of the Ministry and Public Relations Units of the Metropolitan, Municipal, Departments and Agencies to sustain a visible public relations on government business so that it’s achievement are showcased.
Information which has become a major tool in our modern world must not be compromised to any other thing. Likewise the government of Ghana and its stakeholders. In this regard, I will suggest that, the government of Ghana and Parliament should vote more resources to enable its programmes to be showcase.
However, the Ministry together with its major department (Information Services Department) has chalked a lot of successes inspite of the meager budget allocated to the Ministry.
In the mean time, there has been the institution of the mainstreaming of Development Communication (DevCom) in all Departments and Agencies programmes. It is purposefully to create a cordial relationship between the media as well as the Ministry which will in the end clear any distorted facts emanating from governments policies and programmes.
In addition to making the Ministry a limelight among its peers, there has been a compliance decision to engage the full complement of staff for the Information Services Department (ISD) and recruit a total of 683 staff of various grades. An upsurge in the Human Resource aspect of the work which cuts across the entire nation is an immense achievement considering the rate at which the masses are going to understand and accept the need for the creation of that particular Ministry. It’s imperative that, dissemination of information should be our prime concern in the discharge of our duties.
The establishment of an e-management system for the fleet of cinema vans and public address system to all over the districts in the country. I will want to cast the minds of Ghanaians back in the 1960’s when our first President in the person of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown. This is a continuation of the strong commitment demonstrated by the Late President of the Republic.
As at 24th February, 1966 when the President was overthrown, we were left with only sixty-eight (68) cinema vans with a population of less than ten (10) million but since this very government came into power, a total of one hundred and forty-eight (148) cinema vans and ten (10) pick-ups for various Regional Directors has so far been launched and distributed for earnest work to start.
I urge all districts to support efforts of the Information Services Department (ISD) to share information in the districts and all over the country.
Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.