The Media Foundation for West Africa is asking government to explain reasons for the delay in the disbursement of the Gh¢1million it allocated for the development of the media.

On September 9, 2011, then Vice President (and now President) John Mahama announced government’s plans to set up a Media Development Fund (MDF) while addressing the 16th Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) awards as the guest of honour.

Following the announcement, the then Finance Minister, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, in his presentation of the 2012 budget to parliament, announced that Gh¢1million has been allocated to the Fund .

Subsequently, in March 2012, Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa, then a Deputy Minister of Information, announced that the Gh¢1million MDF was ready and would be operational in the second quarter of 2012.

The MFWA in a release on Thursday said, "Eight months after President Mahama’s promise through his State of the Nation address and two months to the end of 2013, there is no evidence of the operationalisation of the Fund.

"As a media development advocacy organisation, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) recognises the value of the MDF and appreciates the significant contribution it can make to the development of the Ghanaian media if it is judiciously applied.

The Foundation therefore wants government to government to come public on the fate of the Fund. The release noted that dozens of financially and logistically-constrained rural-based media outlets could have their fortunes overturned if they can access "low-interest loans" from the Gh¢1million"