Mr. Charles Van Dyck of Adom FM has been elected as an Executive Council member of the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA). He and Akwesi Agyemang of Happy FM were elected unopposed to the council at the 3rd Annual General Meeting of the association in Accra. Also elected were Mr. Chief Crystal, Vice President and Mr. Alhassan Haruna, Deputy Managing Director of Metro TV as President of the association. The five-member Executive Council also included Mr. James Appiah of Atlantis FM. Mr. Haruna who was the Vice President took over from the Chief Executive Officer of MultiMedia Group Ltd, Mr. Kwasi Twum. In his acceptance speech, Haruna promised to continue projects that were started under Mr. Twum’s administration to ensure that members of the association benefit from such projects. He disclosed that the association was in talks with the Electoral Commission for publicity work for the December elections adding that the benefits will be felt by all member media institutions. The new President thanked MultiMedia for releasing the former office of Joy FM to GIBA to site its secretariat. The immediate past president, Mr. Twum said the association has chalked up a lot of successes under his presidency. He said the association had raised concerns relating to some provisions in the proposed Broadcasting Bill. According to him the association’s position on those provisions was communicated to the Ministry of Information and National Orientation. He urged members of the association to inform the leadership of the association if they came under any unwarranted political pressure. The MultiMedia boss recalled the association’s court action against the Food and Drugs Board when it arbitrarily banned the advertising of alcoholic beverages. Speaking on a debate on whether the association should increase its dues, Mr. Twum said the desire to make GIBA a viable, trusted, and respected media advocacy association will not be met if members were not prepared to pay to make the secretariat effective. He emphasised the need for members to provide “excellent, comprehensive, and cost effective customer service”. The GIBA is made up of 130 radio stations, seven terrestrial television station and two satellite television stations. Story by Malik Abass Daabu