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| Kingsley Obeng-Kyere receiving the award |
A member of the UNFPA Media, Communications and Advocacy Network (MCAN), Mr Kingsley Obeng-Kyere, has been adjudged the Professor P.V Ansah/GJA Journalist of the Year for 2012, at the 18th Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) Awards ceremony held in Accra.
MCAN is a national network of media and communication experts formed and inaugurated in October 2002 in Ghana by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. Under the leadership of UNFPA, the network members are a diverse group of professionals such as reporters, correspondents, columnists, feature writers, scriptwriters, commentators, free-lance writers, producers, broadcasters, photo journalists, Ministry of Information officials among others, who either represent their media organisations or joined as individuals voluntarily to advocate for changes in policy, laws or programmes for advancing population and development issues in Ghana.
Obeng-Kyere’s story titled “Where did Half the Ladle Go?” saw him pick the definitive from a formidable line-up of journalists whose works have been acknowledged over the period of assessment. It also handed him another award - Best Science Report. His story exposes the dangers inherent in the use of metallic cooking utensils.
For his prize, Mr Obeng-Kyere received a package worth $20,000 from Unilever Ghana Limited (sponsors of the Professor P.V. Ansah/GJA Journalist of the Year award), which includes a short stay in the United Kingdom (UK) and a tour of the UK Press. In a short address after receiving his prize, the GJA Journalist of the year expressed thankfulness to God and urged his colleague Journalist to be perpetually diligent in serving society. ‘I never relent on anything I did provided it is serving the needs of society and that the policy of development is my hallmark in the discharge of my duty’, he mentioned.
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| Afua Acquah Harrison |
In a related development, Afua Acquah Harrison, a broadcaster with TV3 Network, won the award for Development Journalism for furthering the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which was sponsored by the UN System in Ghana. Her story captured the plight of a pregnant woman in rural Ghana in accessing transportation whiles on the brink of giving birth.
The GJA event which was on the theme: ‘Promoting Healthy Partisanship and Fruitful Partnership in Governance: The Role of the Media’, was used as a platform by many high level officials who were in attendance to renew calls for journalist to focus more on developmental issues and create awareness on areas that need more attention by policy makers.
Mr Mahama Ayariga, Minister of Information and Media Relations, implored the media to diffuse their heavily partisan reportage by focusing on development issues between election periods. He further stated that government accords importance to the freedom and independence of the media, and is determined to step up development assistance to the media, in a fair and transparent manner with the Media Development Fund.
Her Ladyship Justice Georgina Wood, Chief Justice of Ghana and guest speaker for the event, also charged journalists to commit themselves to developing the appropriate content to tackle the problems that confront the Ghanaian people.
Madam Ruby Sandhu-Rojon, UN Resident Coordinator who also doubled as the Chairperson for the occasion, stated that the UN System was supporting some of the award categories to deserving Journalists and expressed the hope that with such support, journalists in the country would be encouraged to focus attention on specific developmental needs of the people of Ghana, and thereby direct policy action towards those areas.
- story by Enock Gyan
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