A series of training programs that the Bank of Ghana funded for members of the Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) has concluded at Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region.
The last leg of the series concluded over the weekend after serving as a platform on which the BoG educated beneficiaries on the peculiarities of its mandate as a central bank and the ideal way to bring issues happening in that highly specialized sector to the understanding of the ordinary Ghanaian.
The opening ceremony of the 5th workshop was graced by the sector Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah who used the opportunity to encourage the media to endeavour to build their capacity in various subject areas to enable them serve the public well.
The Minister called on PRINPAG members ensure that truth and accuracy reign in their work even as the nation heads to another election.
The workshop also served as the opportune platform for the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) President, Affail Monney, to nag his troops one more time about the need for professionalism.
“Of course, our economic and financial journalists cannot be more Catholic than the
Pope or more knowledgeable than the BOG Governor. Our expectations, however, are that they will assert their professional competence and independence to help counter the misleading narratives, outright lies and blatant spin which are rampant in the media space. Indeed, the ordinary Ghanaian are often confused, ” Mr. Affail Monney had said.
Before the GJA President, who had served as Chairman for the program had taken the floor, President of PRINPAG, Mr. Edwin Arthur, had chided the Bank of Ghana for not putting much effort into communicating its programs and strategies, saying it was one of the main contributory factors to confusion about the role of the BoG.
Mr. Arthur suggested that, in bettering its communication, the BoG make publications in local Ghanaian languages.
“The seeming confusion was heightened by what many attributed to the lack of proper communication by the Apex Bank on its operations and activities, a situation that gave room for financial analysts and others to pollute the atmosphere on a day to day basis on the happenings in the financial sector.
On his part, the President of PRINPAG, Mr. Edwin Arthur urged his colleagues to be circumspect in the current electioneering season, pointing out that it is in periods like this that politicians will seek to use journalists to perpetuate misinformation and chaos.
“Already, Mr. Chairman, the political atmosphere is charged and I urge my colleague Editors and Publishers to take a cue from what happened in Rwanda due to the reckless reportage of the media and be circumspect in all activities. This is not the appropriate time to raise these issues but I feel obliged to do what I am doing in view of the political developments we are experiencing in recent times.
“Let us be wary of politicians, whose influence in times like this, have contributed immensely to the lowering of professional standards with its attendant reflection in low patronage of our various newspapers,” Mr. Edwin Arthur said.
The Dodowa training program was the last in a series of such programs held around the country. It was on the theme ‘Role of the Media in Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Reporting.’
Kumasi, Takoradi, Tamale and Ho, had earlier had their versions where officials of the Bank of Ghana took participants through various trainings; from data analyses, computation of financial statistics to information mining from the central bank’s public data. All were held under the auspices of the Bank of Ghana.