‘We need clear rules’ – MFWA on GH¢10m media fund

The proposed GH¢10 million Media Development Fund must be backed by clear governance and accountability structures to ensure it delivers meaningful support to Ghana’s media industry, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has cautioned.

The Foundation’s Programme Manager, Kwaku Krobea Asante, said the announcement of the fund by President John Mahama was welcome, but its success would depend largely on how it was administered, who qualified for support and the safeguards put in place to prevent political interference and misuse.

He said Ghana had previously announced a similar initiative, but questions surrounding the management and distribution of the money remained unanswered.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express, Mr Asante said the country needed to learn from the experiences of other nations that had established media development funds rather than focus solely on the amount being committed.

“We need to deal with the structures that are put in place, the government, the legal and governance safeguards, and the clear operational structures,” he said.

He cited France and Scandinavian countries, as well as Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger, as examples of countries with state-supported media development arrangements.

However, he said the major challenge across several of those initiatives had been ensuring that the funds were used for their intended purposes.

For Ghana, he said, the immediate task should be to establish transparent rules governing the fund, including the criteria for selecting beneficiaries and the nature of assistance to be provided.

Mr Asante recalled that in 2013, the MFWA and other civil society organisations raised concerns about the handling of an earlier allocation of GH¢1 million for media development.

He said the Ministry of Information at the time indicated that the money had been used to procure laptops and other equipment for journalists and media houses.

However, he said the process had not been sufficiently explained, leaving unanswered questions about how the equipment was purchased, the criteria used to select beneficiaries and the quality of the laptops distributed.

“We don’t have answers to those questions,” he said.

He also recalled earlier announcements about a media development fund, including one by former Finance Minister Seth Terkper during the 2012 budget presentation and another by former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, as part of the continuing debate on media support.

Mr Asante said the repeated announcements made it necessary for stakeholders to examine the details of the latest proposal before placing too much confidence in it.

He said the MFWA had therefore called for clarity following President John Dramani Mahama’s announcement of the fund during the State of the Nation Address.

Although the President had outlined areas such as journalists’ welfare, training, investigative reporting and digital safety as potential priorities, Mr Asante said the operational framework was still needed.

He questioned how beneficiaries would be identified and what conditions media organisations and individual journalists would have to meet to access the money.

He also raised concerns about the eligibility of media houses with clear partisan political interests, arguing that public funds should not be used to advance the agendas of particular political parties.

Mr Asante said the fund could make a significant contribution to the industry, particularly by helping media organisations meet operating costs, which could be substantial.

He urged stakeholders to look beyond the initial GH¢10 million allocation and ensure that the fund was established on transparent, independent and accountable foundations.

Also read:

• Mahama announces GH¢10m allocation for Media Development Fund

• ‘We have waited too long’ – Bunkpurugu MP on GH¢10m media fund