News:
August 11, 2011
The Minister of Information and Member of Parliament for Talensi, John Akologo Tia has dismissed calls for the scrapping of the Information Ministry and condemned critics for calling for its closure.
According to him, those critics have been wrongly briefed about the work of the ministry and that has informed their erroneous view of the workings of the ministry.
Several persons including Professor Emmanuel Gyimah Boadi of the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) and former Zebilla MP John Ndebugri are among critics who have described the Information Ministry as unnecessary and is only being used to churn out propaganda for the ruling government.
Professor Gyimah Boadi recently stated that due to the increase of mass media, he was certain that the Ministry has lost its significance, and must be abolished.
However, reacting to the criticism at a press conference in the Upper East Region on Thursday August 11, Information Minister John Tia strongly defended his Ministry, saying the Ministry cannot be scrapped since it is one of the most important Ministries to the government.
“I call such critics the greedy and least amongst us. When you say there are radio stations everywhere and the newspapers everywhere, as for the radio maybe because of the local dialect people can talk and leave it there but the newspapers: how easily accessible are they?
“What is worrisome to me since the changeover of Government is that it appears that what was right yesterday is wrong today. I just don’t understand that. Those who are calling for this are definitely members of the NPP. CDD and all those organizations never called for the scrapping of the Ministry of Information.
“Today they describe the Ministry of Information as a propaganda wing of the government, therefore it must go. They should wait, when they have their turn they can scrap it”.
Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh