The minister-nominee for Information, Mustapha Hamid, says he will champion moves to make the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) effective and viable to the point that it can generate its own funds.
He said he will also help GBC roll-out innovative ways of collecting TV licenses.
Speaking before Parliament’s Appointments Committee, Mustapha Hamid said he will work to make the state broadcaster a major brand that could be competitive on the international scene.
“I think that is important that we work towards GBC a ‘BBC’, if you want where it is able to raise its own money and be very independent of government control even in terms of government subvention so that we can position it as a global player on the international scene.”
The State Broadcaster appears to be losing out in Ghana’s media space following the infiltration of many private media establishments competing in the same space.
A recent survey by Geopoll placed GTV, the state Television, 6th out of 9 major television stations in Ghana, based on audience share.
Many players in the media industry have observed that the broadcaster’s challenge in keeping up with the market, can be addressed if there is enough capital investment to acquire modern equipment and improve infrastructure.
Others have also suggested that the State broadcaster be privatized to ensure efficiency in operations.
But according to the minister nominee, GBC is currently applying some innovative ways of collecting TV license fees, which is mainly used to finance it.
GBC’s efforts to collect the fees remains a challenge as there is a general apathy among the populace in paying the fees. But according to Mustapha Hamid, GBC’s innovation to allow Ghanaians pay their fees via their mobile phones among other innovating ways will help improve its operations.
Mustapha Hamid told the Committee that, he would help ensure that the country’s Broadcasting Bill, which defines parameters of broadcasting in the country and provide sanctions for media entities who flout it, is passed before the end of the 4-year term of the government.
He further noted that, he will provide support and ensure financial resources are made available to GBC to enable it complete a ‘modernization project’ aimed at improving the quality of its signal across the country. #
He said he had made a proposal to the ministry of finance for a budgetary allocation that will help complete the program.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)