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Speaker Bagbin of Ghana’s Parliament Historic visit to GBC; DG Prof. Alhassan makes case for retooling

By Rebecca Ekpe

“Your visit to GBC is Historical,” Director General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation,(GBC), Professor Amin Alhassan said, in a message to welcome the Speaker of Parliament, The Rt. Hon. Alban Sumani Kingsford Bagbin to the 88-year-old Broadcasting House at Kanda in Accra on July 11, 2023.

Historically, it happened to be the first time Mr. Bagbin entered the vicinity of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation since he was elected in what he termed, ‘’miraculously’’ as the Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament.

The Speaker was at GBC to foster civic engagement and enhance public awareness of Parliamentary Democracy in Ghana as the Legislature marks 30 years of uninterrupted democracy in Ghana’s political trajectory.

As Professor Amin Alhassan, Director General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation welcomed Speaker Bagbin he touched on significant accomplishments of the GBC as well as concerns that need prompt attention going forward given its function and the Public Service Mandate of the Corporation as well as its role within Ghana’s media ecosystem and the overall civic responsibility in contributing to entrenching the country’s democracy.

GBC Content the preferred choice:

With the tagline ‘’Transformation from Bureaucracy to Business’’, some four years ago, Professor Amin Alhassan led a ‘’revolution’’ to revitalize GBC’s content, positioning it as the preferred choice. This includes deploying new online media digital tools and social media to appeal to and reach out, especially to the youth who form the majority of the audience online.

“GBC has regained its position as the Media House of reference,” Prof. Alhassan told the meeting with the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin.

“Our content is of national standard and it is a standard for reference. We continue to maintain high ethical standards and we are a Media House that never retracts because we take our time to make sure we get the facts,” he further posited.

Retooling GBC

Professor Amin Alhassan made a case for why the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation needs to be re-tooled to serve its mandate as a Public Service Broadcaster.

He disclosed that since 2004 /2005 there has not been any serious capital investment made by the State into GBC in terms of its infrastructure.

“The media space is a fast-changing one, and if we do not retool with the right equipment, we will have to deal with an analogue structure within a digital ecosystem. And this has been our biggest challenge.

We think that critical equipment for transmission and production needs to be acquired and this cannot be achieved with IGF but by direct public investment in GBC,’’ Prof. Amin Alhassan reiterated.

TV Licence Fee

Public Service Broadcasters the world over are supported through Public Funding, a simple reason why the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation ought to experience the same.

“Rt. Hon. Speaker, across the world, all public service media organisations are funded largely in a form of tax called the public media tax, which we call here in Ghana the TV Licence Fee.

And on this note, Mr. Speaker, the Corporation has re-launched the collection of the TV Licence Fee, and I’m appealing to our Members of Parliament to pay their TV Licence Fee as well as to educate their constituents to also pay promptly to ensure the continuous dissemination of information, especially to remote areas,” Professor Amin Alhassan stated.

In Response, the RT. Honourable Speaker, Mr. Bagbin paid his TV Licence Fee after settling an annual subscription fee of GHC60 on July 11, 2023, and also encouraged others to do the same.

Dial 447333# to pay your TV licence Fee

GBC’s Talking Point; shaping personal skills and educating publics

‘’As a young politician, I was always on your TV program called Talking Point. That is where I cut my teeth as a politician. I debated everyone, including the current President,” Mr. Bagbin stated.

The Speaker of Parliament endorsed Talking Point as a program that has been strategically placed to shape minds through education and also give opportunities to citizens to shape their careers.

The Rt. Hon. Alban Sumani Kingsford Bagbin .

Primarily, GBC’s programs have sought to educate and provide information to every nook and cranny of Ghana, since it was established July 31, 1935.

Today, GBC broadcasts in at least 25 local Ghanaian Languages nationwide, has Seven Television Channels, 18 FM Stations, an Online News Portal with multiple Social Media platforms., and ‘’this is a very difficult task to sustain’’, the GBC DG stated.

Freedom of Expression and Democracy

Before Mr. Bagbin concluded his media tour at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation as part of Parliament’s 30th-anniversary celebration, he assured the GBC of his support and called for collaboration between the Corporation and Parliament in carrying out the public mandate.

Some members of Speaker Bagbin’s entourage.

He however had a massage. Speaker Bagbin was unhappy with Ghana’s drop in Press Freedom Rankings as compiled by Reporters without Borders, RSF.

For the second successive year, Ghana dropped on the Annual Press Freedom Index from 60th place last year to 62nd in 2023.

This was in a report released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and is Ghana’s worst performance in 18 years since it placed 66th in 2005. Also, in 2021, Ghana dropped 30 points from the 30th to the 60th position.

Mr. Bagbin believes that a Free Press is integral to protecting Ghana’s democracy and said stakeholders must be concerned about the drop in Press Freedom rankings and take steps to remedy the current situation.

“Establishing the connection between press freedom, free expression, democracy, and national development is necessary. Holding those in authority accountable, exposing corruption and the abuse of power, and fostering transparency and good governance are all made possible by a free press,’’ he posited.