Mr Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, Executive Director of Wassa Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM), has appealed to the government to adequately resource the Ghana News Agency (GNA) to enable it to discharge its mandate effectively. “We need to understand that one of the dreams of the first President of this country, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, was to ensure national cohesion because if we have news coming from all parts of the country, it helps in fostering national integration and makes us feel as one people. Mr Owusu-Koranteng, who was speaking on the relevance of the GNA in modern Ghana in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra last Monday, said his appeal should be taken in the national interest since GNA was represented in almost all districts nationwide. “The other side of it is that it makes the people at the grass roots see themselves as part and parcel of national politics and enables them to participate effectively in national programmes”, he said. On the issue of news gathering, Mr Owusu-Koranteng said GNA had actually been able to feed the media, making them very vibrant, and that both the private or public media depend on stories from the GNA for their news bulletins. “In terms of best practices, I think GNA has been on the lead. Their journalists have actually demonstrated a certain level of professionalism which has helped in raising journalistic standards in this country”, he stated. He indicated that the vision of Kwame Nkrumah was that at a point where poor people were being cheated or suffered any violation of their rights, journalists could not be neutral, but must extend support to the poor. Mr Owusu-Koranteng said the GNA had pursued that vision satisfactorily, pointing out that when there was cyanide spillage by Newmont and a subsequent attempt to cover it up, the GNA was at the forefront to ensure that national interest prevailed. He said the intervention by the GNA was what prevented Newmont Ghana Gold Limited from hiding the cyanide spillage at the Ahafo Mine, which led to Ghana Government losing a fine of about GH¢7 million on the company. “The money came to the state and that is how news which serves the national interest fit into national development. The advocacy supported by the Ghana News Agency turned into a positive benefit to the State”, he said. On the championing of human rights, he recalled that it was GNA that unraveled the ambiguity surrounding what happened to Awudu Muntari, the “galamsey” operator. Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana