A lot of controversy has over the years surrounded the disbursement of the Media Development Fund promised by the government of the late President John Evans Atta Mills. The fund is aimed at training and building the capacity of media practitioners to deliver better results in terms of prosecuting their various mandates for the development of the nation.
Some monies were released to the then Ministry of Information as Media Development Fund. Questions have been asked as to how much has so far been disbursed from the fund and what the money was used for.
Many individuals and institutions have called on managers of the fund to provide further and better particulars as to how it was disbursed and utilized.
Latest to join such calls is the Dean of the Parliamentary Press Corps, Andrew Edwin Arthur, who is demanding the where about of the funds. Delivering an address at the end of year party of the Corps held last Friday, he said ?it is regrettable that such a laudable initiative has been abused by those who were expected to handle it, and I believe it will not be too much to call on the managers of the fund to come out and to let the Ghanaian media know the current state of the fund.?
His call is coming at the time the media landscape in Ghana is perceived as needing a lot of capacity building in order to keep up with new trends in media practice worldwide. ?Funds such as the Media Development Fund could come in handy.
The media in Ghana needs all the help it can get to develop the capacity of journalist in the country so as to catch up with international standards.
Media organizations need financial resources to be able to sustain their businesses. Institutions mandated by law to regulate the media landscape need a lot of funds to be able to organize some refresher courses and workshops for media practitioners.
All these could be achieved by a well managed Media Development Fund if the country is mindful of the consequences of the lack of capacity of the media and its implications on our democratic path.
The question still remains that where is the Media Development Fund?
Source: Spy News Agency
