A former Director General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation Prof Kwame Karikari has called for Directors General of the State Broadcaster to be allowed to serve their full terms in office.
According to him, the short tenure of office that has characterised Various Directors General and Board Members of the State Broadcaster is problematic. Prof Karikari is also of the view that the situation where majority of Directors and departmental heads in GBC are in acting capacities does not provide a firm foundation for its long term development.
Speaking at the 84th Anniversary Lecture of GBC in Accra, Prof Kwame Karikari commended the State Broadcaster for providing the public with relevant information and staying away from politics in the process despite the challenges it faces.
Sixteen (16) years after the establishment of the first ever public service broadcaster in Philadelphia, GBC was born, making it one of the oldest public service Broadcasting corporations in the world.
GBC has since then served Ghanaians with 84 years of radio broadcast and 54 years of Television broadcast. Prof Kwame Karikari gave an interesting description of the state broadcaster.
“At 84 if GBC were a human being, you might find on its body the scars of rough abuses from military dictatorships, in its face, the wrinkles of censorship from the first republic and later regimes, you might even find on its cheeks the tracks of tears or the cynical smiles of troubled response to the unwelcomed instructions of pompous and over bearing ministers of information of old”
Prof Karikari, who is not a first time speaker at the Anniversary Lecture said GBC’s growth has stagnated over the years due to the short life span of its leaders.
“There have been 14 DGs since 1954 until 2010. The longest serving DG, WF Colman had 10 year tenure (1960-1970). Four DGs served six years each.The average tenure of the remaining 9 was 2 years and a few months including myself……The tenure of Boards of Directors of GBC is 2 years. How much any board can accomplish in this short time any anybody’s guess.”
Dignitaries present at the ocassion included the Acting Director General Augustus Yankson, Newly appointed Director General, Prof Alhassan Anim, Board members, Directors of Radio and TV, President of the GJA and Veteran braodcasters of the corporation.
Story by Nathaniel Nartey.
