Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says government bears no grudges with the Multimedia Group Limited (MGL) in the discharge of its duties as a media organisation.
However, he noted that government reserves the right to express its dissatisfaction with the media outfit when it feels it has not been treated well or given a fair hearing by the private media outlet.
Speaking on newsfile, a current affairs programme on Joy 99.7, a subsidiary of MGL, the Information Minister said government found the infamous ‘militia at the heart of the city’ documentary by Joy News misleading and a clear misrepresentation of facts.
He stated that the documentary sought to paint government bad in the eyes of the public by the extraneous elements put together and introduced in same by Mannaseh Azure Awuni and the Multimedia Group.
”We in government do not find anything wrong with the work multimedia is doing including educating and informing citizens on what they term and deem as news, however going forward they should be guided by the highest standard practices as enshrined in the constitution of Ghana as well as on the GJA code of ethics”, the Minister stressed.
CONTENTMENT:
Commenting on the recent case government filed at the National Media Commission (NMC) against the MGL, Mr Nkrumah said government was content with the verdict of the regulation body.
He said even though government did not get all the reliefs it sought for in the final ruling, it was however content with same.
He urged both the government and MGL to move on in the spirit of reconciliation and learn lessons out of the issues raised at the NMC committee sittings.
Mr Nkrumah also asked that the media at all times stick to facts when churning out news stories rather than giving narratives that seem to twist the facts or embellish stories.
GALAMSEY PROBE:
On the issue of the recent statement by the Police that it has cleared one Charles Bissue, a former Chairman of the Government Interministerial Committee on Mining, Mr Nkrumah said no findings were made against persons who were investigated by the Police.
He, however, stressed that the observations and findings of the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) does not in anyway exclude the persons from any future proceedings that may find them foul of the law.
Mr Nkurmah noted once the prime character, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, the investigative journalist, decided not to appear before the CID on the expose he had carried on the named persons the Police had no option but to conclude on the grounds they did.
He maintained that with the Office of the Special Prosecutor in the thick of affairs with another investigation into same matter anyone found culpable by the outfit would have to answer for his or her role.
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