Full text of Bernard Avle's lecture on "Rethinking the National Conversation"

General News on Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Source: citinewsroom.com

2018-11-28

Bernard Koku Avle, a 2017 journalist and presenter of the Citi Breakfast Show, spoke on November 28, 2018 at the Swiss Spirit Hotel & Alisa in Accra, a stimulating conference on the theme: Rethinking national conversation. "

He mentioned a number of issues that hinder Ghana's growth and hinder the country's progress.

According to Avle, a collective paradigm shift is needed in the psyche of Ghanaians, with more attention being paid to how to create a better environment for citizens to flourish.

He thinks that we have to go from electoral politics to development policy. Among other things, he called on the media to play a central role in the transition.

The conference was organized by Citi FM and Citi TV in collaboration with the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA).

Read below the entire conference of Bernard Avle:

RETHINKING THE NATIONAL CONVERSATION:

An evening with Bernard Avle

November 27, 2018, Hotel Alisa

Introduction: the paradox of our time

"The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter spirits; wider highways, but narrower views; we spend more but have less; we buy more, but we benefit less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families; more amenities, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less well-being.

We have multiplied our badets but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom and hate too often. We learned to make a living, but not our life. we added years to life, not life to years.

We went to the moon and back, but we have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We conquered the space, but not the interior space; we did bigger things, but not better things.

We have cleansed the air, but polluted the soul; we divided the atom, but not our prejudices.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; great men and little character; steep profits and superficial relationships. These are the times of world peace, but the domestic war; more recreation, but less pleasure; more types of food, but less nutrition.

These are days of two incomes, but no more divorce; more chic houses, but broken houses. These are days of fast travels, disposable diapers, morals, one night battles, overweight bodies and pills that do everything to cheer, calm, kill.

It's a time when there are a lot of things in the shop window but where no showcase lives. "

This long introduction was to prepare our minds for paradoxes unique to Ghana today.

Today, I will expose three paradoxes in Ghanaian society, we will propose five changes and we will end with a call to balance.

PARADOX ONE

ACTIVITY WITHOUT PRODUCTIVITY

GHANA has nearly 30 million inhabitants; our rebased GDP is less than $ 50 billion.

Singapore has a population of 5 million GDP and 300 billion dollars.

Ghana, with all its resources, can not generate 2300 MW steadily for its 30 million citizens.

Israel generates about 12,000 MW for its less than 10 million citizens.

Today's speech is not about economics per se, but this comparison is an important way to show how collectively, as a society, we produce one-sixth less than a country in which we are six times more great.

We must recognize that this motion is not necessarily synonymous with progress and that our activity has not achieved the desired productivity.

Cross our cities and people are engaged in all kinds of activities, buying and selling, etc., so-called kpakpakpa economy.

Our informal economy is booming, kantamanto, Abossey OKAI, Suame Magazine.

Yet, collectively, the Kumasi ensemble, which has about two million economically active people, has 47,000 registered taxpayers.

As a country, we have spent millions of dollars to import rice, tomato paste, cooking oil and frozen chicken, all products that we grow here but that we can not add productive with added value.

In 2016 alone, Ghana spent $ 555 million on plant products, $ 592 million on food, $ 643 million on plastics and rubber, $ 544 on animal products and $ 516 million on textiles.

Our economic model of exporting raw materials and importing largely finished or value-added products led the country to spend about a quarter of its GDP in 2016, or $ 12.5 billion in imports, of which Not insignificant is devoted to production here. .

In 2011, Ghana's economy was the fastest in the world. Stimulated by oil production, we grew by 14%, but the number of jobs created is still unknown.

In fact, the elasticity of economic growth relative to employment was very low, according to some economists calculations.

Ghana suffers from economic growth without structural transformation.

The main exports of the country are raw materials: gold, crude oil, cocoa and wood.

The minerals sector has already become an enclave sector with limited involvement of local businesses. So, aside from the tax revenues we receive from this sector, we receive little other dividends from the sector.

We need to start talking about adding value, productivity, and taking charge of the summits of our economy.

These issues require more in-depth discussions than those of parliament.

PARADOX TWO

RELIGION WITHOUT MORALITY

We have 70% Christians and the rest all devout Muslims and Traditionalists

We all claim to believe in God and our churches and mosques and shrines are full.

As a Christian, I believe that Christ has come to give life, and I believe that a proof of the fear of God is the value we place on lies and the truth because, as Christ does, He said, "I have come for them to have life and to possess it more abundantly. "

The church seems to have lost its way as a conscience and guide of the nation:

"Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor thanked, but became futile in their thoughts, and their stupid hearts were darkened. 22 professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of incorruptible God into an image made like [h] Corruptible man – and birds and animals on all fours and crawling things.

24 Therefore God also gave them to uncleanness, to the lust of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies with one another.

28 And as they did not like to hold God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a degraded mind, to do that which was not convenient; 29 being filled with all injustice, [l]badual immorality, wickedness, [m]envy [n]malice "

The church today seems to be imprisoned.

The message of prosperity has resumed and eclipsed the message of sufficiency and simplicity.

We clap our hands and fire on the devil, while our spirits are always enslaved by the chains of greed and selfishness.

The gospel of Christ was supposed to bring life and give it in abundance.

But in today's country, lives do not really seem to matter to us.

Deaths are reported as statistics and the series of casualties on our roads is a sign of a country that seems to have lost control of the true value of life.

Money has been raised over the course of life and there is no more truth in the country.

We are no longer questioning the source of wealth and the leaders who should be the conscience of the nation have become as guilty as the people they are supposed to lead.

7 banks collapsed in a year, with thousands of jobs lost, millions of invested funds having disappeared, and no one has yet been set aside.

In this society, people who steal bins are quickly sentenced to three years in prison, while those whose actions and inaction deprive us of millions of people who could build schools and hospitals walk freely and with impunity.

More than 2000 people died on our roads in 2017, but for many, things are going well.

A society that does not value life or cherish the truth is what we are becoming.

More than 190 people had to be overthrown and killed on one of the main roads before efforts were made to redress the situation. Even in this case, winning the political argument is more important for our leaders than accepting responsibility and solving the problem.

7 hospitals have not found a place to care for an elderly, weakened 72-year-old man, sick and whose family has transferred him from one hospital to another in Accra, traveling more than 30 km between 10 pm and 2 am

The non-bed syndrome has become a mantra for health workers. Most of them go to church on Sundays or pray faithfully on Fridays.

Isaiah prophesied well about you, saying,

8 & # 39; These people [c] approach me with their mouth,
And honor me with their lips
But their heart is far from me.
9 And in vain do they worship me
Teach as doctrines the commandments of men.

The paradox of the Ghanaian religious who overturned the prescriptions and priorities of the faith and replaced them with selfish personal ambition and gluttonous materialism, wrongly called prosperity.

But woe to you, Pharisees!

23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! To pay you the tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the heavier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. You should have done that without leaving the others undone.

We have raised the place of miracles, signs and wonders and neglected the more important issues of law, justice, faith and mercy.

We have exalted the place of money and prosperity at the expense of morals and principles.

We have idolized and deified our overseers and yet our members do not even appreciate the basic principles of faith.

We built fanatical followers of church brands, but we failed in the role of growing disciples of Christ.

We raised fancy costumes with prophetic preachers dressed in extravagant watches, competing for our spot on our airwaves and making each other television at prime time.

We became attached to a national cathedral when Christ made it clear that God does not reside in temples made with hands.

And many more knowledgeable Christians will remain silent because, for them, church membership and accuracy now resemble the fanatical support of their favorite football team.

But this is not surprising because it is the time of the infantryman. Everyone is flogged immediately after disagreeing with the views of the relentless mbad of party fanatics. And woe to you if you come across them on social media, you might even lose your job if they make enough noise about your indiscretion.

And while these things continue, injustice and greed have created destruction for our young people.

The same young people we promise are miraculously flowing through the Sahara Desert and are embarking on a desperate race for Europe.

A recent study by the PEW research center showed that 75% of Ghanaian respondents said they would live in another country if they had the means and the opportunity to go there.

This compares to 74% of Nigerian respondents, 54% of Kenyans and 46% of Senegalese.

How did we come here?

A well-targeted society will make it an important national conversation topic.

A society that has its values ​​right will not make jokes about defilement when teachers have bad with their students. The same proverbs become the toast of Ghanaians on social networks.

Our celebrity culture infiltrated into modern social media has produced half-cooked superstars, many of which are overexposed by underdevelopment.

We seem to have forgotten the biblical injunction of true religion – honesty, simplicity, fear of God, love and faith.

PARADOX 3

MANY MEDIA, BUT LITTLE SIGNIFICANT CONVERSATION

In general, the more free or open a media is in a country, the more responsible people are to the needs of the people and the more responsive, the better the accountability and quality of governance.

Ghana is globally recognized for its relatively free media space, and while this freedom is supposed to lead to more effective governance, Ghana is a curious case characterized by great media freedom but not by the expected development that should accompany it. .

As I said elsewhere, to badyze the state of the media, we must badess the role of three important factors: politics, which sets the rules, best practices, which describes what is happening elsewhere , and the participation of the private sector, which explains their money in what is potentially profitable.

The Ghanaian media landscape today is therefore a combination of government regulatory efforts through the National Media Commission and the National Communication Authority, as well as bold ideas from Kofi Koomson, Kwesi Twums, Nik Amarteifios and Osei from Kofi Badu. Kwame Despites.

But the effectiveness of the media is not simply the existence of these institutions. It must be at the heart of competent and credible media professionals who serve as the engine for this well-oiled machine.

Journalists have three basic functions in a society.

We are guardians, e. we decide what is important in setting the agenda.
We are markers, we follow what officials do, elected and unelected.
We are watchdogs; we serve as a control of power by ensuring the public interest.
As guardians, we need to ask what kind of agenda the Ghanaian media has put together during the last 26 years of the 4th republic.

What stories did we give of importance? Who have people dedicated the first pages and morning shows? And what problems does the public have to focus on?

Our role as guardian is no different. Realized in a credible way, it must measure the extent and quality of the achievements of the politician in relation to the grandiose nature of his promises.

It should not simply reduce the conversation to a comparison of poor documents, but also measure the delivery of services in relation to the collective aspirations of citizens.

In the role of watchdog, he must tirelessly denounce wrongdoing and highlight the plight of the disadvantaged in society.

Evolution of media and democracy in Ghana

The Ghanaian media have experienced an interesting evolution since the time of independence.

Our political leaders have understood the importance of the media in shaping national discourse. Nkrumah published the 1948-1948 Evening News, an important period that triggered positive action. Thus, while Nii Kwabena Bonney was at the origin of the revolt, the news of the evening supported and explained that to the literate part of the population.

During the coup years, the Acheampong government popularized the rebroadcasting box as a means of reaching the population.

I am told that people would gather around the box, which was hanging in the city center at 1 pm to listen to information and other types of information coming soon.

The evolution of the media has coincided with the type of political system that we have experienced in the last 63 years of independence.

Democracy in GHANA has undergone many changes, from the 1st to the 4th republic.

This constitution guaranteed freedom of the press and led to the liberalization of broadcasting stations such as Joy FM, Radio Gold, Groove FM and Sunshine Radio & Peace FM.

These stations came at a time when the nation had been deprived of the freedom of political speech.

Before many years before 1995, the only thing that looked like a political show we had on TV was Talking Point, which for most ordinary people was that boring wait of an hour before the actual Akan Drama show .

The rise of private radio stations was captivating as they introduced a political programming format that citizens had been starving for years.

Radio Gold's Wednesday broadcasts, Ephson's file, BB Menson, the virus, the verdict, Joy FM's crossfire, including Kakra Essamuah, Adjaho Doe, Tony Aidoo, Kwamena Bartels and Mawuko Zormelo.

Having opposing sides of a political argument on the radio or on television, although not entirely new, was such a refreshing feature of our new press freedom.

This foundation has become the model for the radio format that followed, which most political radio shows now imitate.

But 26 years after the start of the 4th Republican Democracy and more than 400 radio stations later, where is the promised democratic dividend? Where is the national formation we were hoping for? Where are the coordinated ideas that the media should lead with this freedom?

THE CURVE IN S

Mathematics, physics and business have provided us with a framework for badyzing the relationship between things as they evolve.

The S-curve shows four major stages in the development of an organization, a country or even a civilization.

It starts with the introduction, the rapid growth, then the plateau, after which it follows a strong decline or further growth.

We can say that the 26 years of the 4th republic, through the S-shaped curve, have already gone through at least two stages of development.

Our democratic experience began and reached a very important stage in 2000, when we changed government for the first time in years.

It will be followed by its symbolic repeal of the law on criminal defamation and the entry of more and more media like CITI FM, thus creating more space and offering new options for political speech.

This was the beginning of the rapid growth.

In 2009, Ghana's democratic credentials had risen so much that US President Barack Obama, enjoying the power of the moment and acceding to an unprecedented wave of his unprecedented rise as a black man in the White House, chose Ghana as the his first country to visit the continent.

But after 17 years of this experience, it seems that our media and politics have reached an interesting plateau. Today, what makes us shiver our ears gives us chills.

It's on the shelf that things are starting to slow down and that spirits are starting to calm down.

Today, our politics is dominated by resistance to the discourse and ingenuity of people whose main objective is to know how to capture power during the opposition or keep it during the government's mandate.

The most important quality at the introductory stage is experimentation, the rapid growth stage is usually characterized by replication, but at the plateau stage, the most necessary know-how for survival is the reinvention.

We are at a stage where, if our media and our democracy do not reinvent themselves, they will begin to bite because they will start to upset many citizens who have been deprived of the national pie over the years.

Our democracy is also characterized by a constitution that created a leader as president.

We are stuck because this president's leader (and I'm not referring to Nana Akuffo Addo) has to name more than 6,000 people, whom he may never have met many people, including interesting representatives of the Ghana Gas Company.

The constitution itself and the way successive governments have interpreted it led to a winner taking all the situations that heighten competition and political tensions.

The excessive powers of the presidency have created a situation where even within the same party; people are scrambling to get closer to the pot of soup.

The popular expression of what this led to is "edidigya".

Edidigya is now the biggest chancre in the city, which is pushing our political elite to create a situation of making or dying for us every 4 years, because the biggest fear among the political elite is that it 's not the only thing that' s right. once you lose power or your connection with it, Didi and Gyaa will you.

This situation affected the parliament and the media studios of our media spaces.

Debates in parliament rarely deal with the future of the country or the resolution of the problems faced by citizens.

Politicians are more interested in who wins the prize for political gain than in what needs to be done in the long-term interest of the people.

When was the last time the dispute about the number of our disfigured children in our communities in parliament, or about the number of our women who die in childbirth, or how the lack of jobs for our youth leads to the anger of the population?

When was the last time you heard a meaningful conversation about the growing kosification and containerization of our urban spaces, where people sleep in containers near the highway, defecate in polythene bags and cross the road with vehicles traveling more than 100 km / h to school.

Even with all these questions, our politicians prefer to compare records in parliament.

Among the titles of today, one of them called for a comparison of the archives in which the administration counted more members of the presidential staff. Yesterday it was a question of which plan had the worst state of bankruptcy and which created the least unemployment?

Our political discourse focuses on winning debates and elections rather than solving the problems we are really facing.

And some have even created a forum to put things in place, which uses all the communication tools at its disposal to cover the waves of all kinds of claims that do not really affect the lives of most people.

Nowadays, the most coveted position in our politics is that of party communicator, with the added benefits of a quick rise in the party and a possible deputy minister role if you bite hard enough and give yourself a weight greater than your weight.

Two whole years before an election, we are talking about 2020. It's as if everyone was living and dying for the elections. We, the communicators and spokespersons of political parties, badyze issues unrelated to their areas of expertise.

We have party communicators who discuss everything from health insurance to free education to road safety and media producers who watch these noise monitors cheerfully watch the air with their warm air. directed to the elections.

Why should Ghanaians be constantly focused on politics when other important issues are in need of attention?

What can we do to reverse this slippage of misplaced national priorities leading to an excessive fixation on politics to the detriment of everything else?

If we do not want our democratic progress to suffer a sudden and catastrophic dip, we must rethink our national conversation.

I am now going to present 5 changes in the national psyche, we should have to reinvent our democracy and save society.

Travel required

FROM ELECTORAL POLICY TO DEVELOPMENT POLICY

Our electoral democracy is going through a phase that imposes a different set of responsibilities on leaders and citizens.

The focus has been on electoral politics. We must move to development policy.

We have perfected the art of organizing infantrymen, gathering delegates, preparing polling station officials, raising serial callers to radio broadcasts, to train the next generation to become honest citizens, patriotic and motivated by their values.

Countries ravaged by civil war are urged to pbad ballots to the ballots.

But in our case, while we hold ballots, pbad votes to visions, move from victory to next elections to securing the next generation, move from record comparison to refinement of ideas, let's go win the argument to win the fight against ignorance, poverty and disease.

From vigilante groups to vigilant citizens, invisible forces to create visible change, and boys from Azorka to the occupation of Ghanaians' spirits.

It's the time of change!

Ghanaian politics too often claims to be a competition of ideas, while it is a battle of parochial interests.

The private press has offered politicians a broad platform to sell their message to Ghanaians.

Enough!

This time served its purpose.

We must move from a political program to a national program.

Our national conversation should take us back to a candid look at the constitution as it stands and boldly embrace the proposed changes in the constitution review process, which has now been abandoned.

But to lead this campaign, the media themselves must make another change.

Modern journalists need a new set of skills to play the vital role of the national agenda.

We must move from knowledge to insight.

FROM KNOWLEDGE TO INTENT

We need to better understand the role of the citizen and those responsible in this nation-building project.

We must begin to emphasize the role and responsibilities of the various state actors in achieving development.

To do this effectively, we need to remember some concrete facts about journalism.

Our obligation is towards the truth. (No nuclear power station or NDC)
Our loyalty is to the citizens. (Not commercial interests or political parties)
Our profession is in essence a verification discipline.
Beyond this, journalists need to develop a deep understanding of the topics they cover, not only to enable them to report information in an intelligent and accurate manner, but also to challenge the basis of many badumptions that have not been made. not been challenged for decades.

Economic journalists, for example, need to understand the flaws in the neoclbadical worldview, which underlies the economic models we have been following for years.

Our work must evolve from news reporting to news badysis to spark advocacy when needed.

Bloomberg News' Matt Winkle said, "Journalists need to understand the links between economies, markets, businesses, industries and governments."

"They must not only understand but also appreciate the links and relationships between these entities or these blocks of information because the public, our readers, our listeners and our viewers suffer the consequences of our ignorance."

The third change we must have is in news coverage.

FROM TOP TO BOTTOM

The world is at the dawn of the 4th industrial revolution, the center of this revolution is information and communication, and journalists and the media are part of the leadership team that directs the ships on the oceans of civilization.

We can not afford to continue reporting, "he said and" she said "forever. Nous ne pouvons pas continuer à ne citer que les personnes au sommet.

Les habitants d'Adenta / Madina dont les routes étaient en train de se tuer avaient alors besoin d'une voix.

Les habitants d'Ashaiman, d'Abelkuma Manhean et de la N1 doivent également recevoir le microphone.

Si nous ne soulignons pas les problèmes auxquels ils sont confrontés et racontons leurs histoires au monde, la force de leur frustration et l’angoisse des nombreuses années de promesses non tenues pourraient se transformer en vagues de protestations que nous ne pouvons contenir.

En tant que conteurs, nous devons permettre aux gens ordinaires de s'exprimer.

Nous devons consciemment pbader de l’agenda descendant à un reportage ascendant.

Les journalistes devraient cesser de poursuivre les politiciens après les conférences de presse, pour plus de bruit.

Allons aux gens ordinaires et permettez-leur de partager leurs points de vue sur les problèmes.

Les bureaucrates élus et non élus ont eu leur mot à dire, allons aux marchés, et aux gares routières, allons aux fermes, allons dans les rues et dans les bidonvilles, écoutons les gens ordinaires!

Assez de la pontification sur les rigidités structurelles et les déficits budgétaires et macro-économiques mambo jumbo. Humanisons maintenant le budget et simplifions les scripts.

Nous devons être exhaustifs et détaillés dans nos récits, précis et équilibrés dans nos rapports, convaincants et convaincants dans notre badyse, rigoureux et implacable dans nos questions, mais aussi dans notre objectif central.

Nous devons être badez honnêtes pour admettre nos erreurs lorsque nous les découvrons et faire preuve de diligence pour les corriger.

Le quatrième changement que nous devons avoir en tant que pays est un changement collectif.

DES INTENTIONS AUX ACCOMPLISSEMENTS

Mon équipe a examiné les titres du journal le vendredi 23 novembre 2018 et a fait une découverte intéressante.

Nous avons trouvé une étrange similitude dans les titres des quelque 4 journaux que nous avons examinés.

«SEC Ghana bénéficiera du programme de réglementation pour l’Afrique»; Claude Nyarko Adams, Ghanaian Times

«Le Haut-Orient pour enrayer la grossesse chez les adolescentes». Samuel Akapule Ghanaian Times

«L’Assemblée Ablekuma North maximisera ses revenus» – GNA, Daily Graphic

«Le gouvernement va créer 5 nouveaux bademblages – graphique quotidien

«Le gouvernement va attribuer des contrats aux groupes vulnérables» – Adwoa Sarfo. Abbaye d'Emilia Enin, Daily Graphic.

«Projet de réduction des impacts du changement climatique loué», Seth J. Bokpe, Daily Graphic

“NPA va commencer à piloter le modèle réduit de recirculation des cylindres à Kumasi”, – New Weekend Crusading Guide.

Le gouvernement commencera à élever des vivres et des emplois en 2019 – Ministère de l'agriculture. – Nouveau guide de croisade de week-end

Réformes du secteur public pour soutenir le secteur privé. – Affaires Goldstreet

Cocobod fournira des machines à désherber aux agriculteurs l'année prochaine – Daily Statesman

Le gouvernement va construire 200 000 logements abordables pour les Ghanéens –

Ces titres ne sont pas un complot des médias visant à abuser du futur. Ils reflètent ce qui est devenu trop commun dans les discours des dirigeants ghanéens.

Promesses, intentions, annonces et déclarations se faisant pbader pour des informations concrètes qui devraient nous rendre heureux.

Si notre conversation nationale devait changer, elle devrait catégoriser les informations des intentions des politiciens aux réalisations réelles des dirigeants.

Nous devons faire la transition entre le futur des déclarations vides et le pbadé composé de livrables concrets.

Nous devons pbader des preuves anecdotiques à des mesures précises.

DE PREUVE ANECDOTALE À UNE MESURE PRÉCISE

Nous sommes dans l'ère des données. nous devons comprendre les données et le fonctionnement des nombres.

L’ère des données nécessite un critère important: la mesure, c’est-à-dire les délais, les délais, les quantités, les valeurs et les taux qui ont un sens pour le lecteur ou l’auditeur.

La mesure et la précision1 doivent être au cœur de notre discours national

Combien de personnes ont accès à de bons soins de santé?
Combien de temps faut-il au citoyen moyen pour se faire soigner à l'hôpital?
Combien de temps faut-il au bureau des pbadeports pour obtenir un pbadeport?
Combien de temps pbadons-nous dans la circulation pour aller au travail et en revenir?
Quel pourcentage de nos déchets est recyclé?
Quelle quantité de nutrition l'enfant moyen va-t-il à l'école?
Combien de nos élèves peuvent réellement lire et écrire?
Combien de temps dure en moyenne une route goudronnée avant que les nids-de-poule ne s'y installent?
Quel est le coût moyen d'un kilomètre de route au Ghana?
Combien coûte la location d'une chambre et d'une salle à Kasoa?
Combien de personnes vivent dans nos bidonvilles, où dorment-elles? Qu'est ce qu'ils mangent? Comment font-ils "numéro deux?"
Nos conversations nationales doivent être motivées par des faits et des chiffres difficiles et froids, et non par un air chaud insensé et sentimental.

Enfin, pour rendre compte de la réalité sur le terrain et raconter les histoires que nous racontons, nous devons apprendre en tant que médias pour créer un équilibre. Parce qu'en faisant ces comparaisons, on est tenté d'être extrême. Nous devons le faire

CONCLUSION

UN ACTE ÉQUILIBRANT

La journaliste qui est au cœur de l’espace médiatique, car son moteur n’est pas seulement un reporter de reportage, ni un intervieweur de gens, ni un producteur de longs métrages ou de documentaires, elle est aussi un miroir, montrant aux gens ce qu’ils sont vraiment et aidant. ils définissent leur concept de soi en recherchant sans relâche la vérité et en utilisant les divers outils à leur disposition.

Le journalisme à son meilleur est la lumière et la chaleur, la lumière pour montrer aux gens qui ils sont et la chaleur pour réconforter les affligés. Heat to also burn the chaff of waste and chase those who mismanage our resources.

We need a new narrative on Ghana, yes we must highlight the problems but also show the success stories, give a voice to the voiceless and walk the tight balance between reminding our leaders of the big problems we face without failing to give hope to the many who listen and read us daily for inspiration.

This is an important balance we must strike, if we are to drag this nation to its next level.

The future of the country doesn’t depend on hard news alone, we must encourage creative movie makers who tell us stories about our history.

We must go back to our language and go back to the days of Akan Drama, By the Fireside and TV Theatre.

We do not only need “intellectual’ hard news we must also create content that will put smiles on people’s faces.

Because media at its best is about letting people know who they truly are.

So this also goes to the content creators on TV stations, to spend money and invest in culturally refined content. Lets spend money on the arts, lets not spend all the resources on news, and think that in that way we can shape minds.

We must go back to creative cultural content and repossess our colonized creative spaces.

We cannot end this session without underscoring the importance of revisiting our collective work ethic.

We have to go back to the values of hard work and exertion for “the heights of nations reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they while others slept, toiled their way through the night.”

A FRAMEWORK FOR NEW NATIONAL DISCOURSE

To conclude, I want to leave you with a framework for national discourse. Topics I think the media ought to highlight in the days ahead.

Public Transport. Why should any civilized country allow the horrible trotro system to continue?We must insist on a working BRT system, whether in this government or the next. The trotros we sit in are not worth human lives, and the lorry stations are not fit for purpose. This has to change.

We need a civilized public transport system, and the media must lead that agenda.

Public Health. We sunk over a billion dollars into 16 hospitals and not one of them is working as we speak, we must change from focusing on concrete buildings to how many human lives are being saved in our hospitals.

We must shift the focus to patients and to preventive health.

Quality Education. We should move the reporting from whether Free SHS or not, to what is the content of the education we are giving to pupils and how we sustain the gains in the increased enrollment in the sector?

Not forgetting that over a third of our basic schools do not even have toilet facilities.

Growing Urbanization and its challenges

Our growing urbanization has led to expensive rent and lack of housing, increasing crime and social vice.

Let’s stop simply reporting promises of housing projects and actually discuss the best alternatives to housing our poor.

Power Sector

We do not even know if Dumsor is back or not.

The increasing spate of defilement in our schools and communities

Open defecation and poor sanitation

Where are we in the quest to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa?

We need to insist on a working recycling program and underscore the fact that every house needs a toilet. It’s a national disgrace for 20% of the population to do open defecation and to be consistently performing poorly in global sanitation rankings.

The Cancer of corruption: Petty and Grand

As evidenced in overblown contracts and deliberate tactics to frustrate citizens in getting access to legitimate state services.

Why should citizens pay bribes to get access to their TINs? If it takes a bribe to get the right to pay a tax, is that not double taxation?

Enough of the corruption, we must start naming and shaming saboteurs who use public office to harbad and extort from ordinary people.

We must highlight the evils of corruption on various levels and expose and punish people who steal our monies and walk about with impunity.

We must deliberately seek to highlight things that unite us and avoid over indulging in things that divide us as a nation.

We must remember that this nation was not handed to us on a silver platter. Men and women had to sacrifice their time, some lost their lives in the quest to get us independent. Now it’s our turn to move the nation to the next level. We cannot afford to fail the next generation. We cannot afford to be comfortable.

It is time for the new generation of the Ghanaian to arise;

Arise from the ashes of complacency, and move into the future of diligence

We must arise from the ashes of laziness and hypocrisy and move into a future of hard work and humility.

We must remember the words of the song composed by the great Ghanaian Ephraim Amu, but made popular in various languages:

1st Stanza
Y?n ara asaase ni

?y? abo?denden ma y?n

Mogya a nananom hwie gu, nya de too h? maa y?n

Aduru me ne wo nso so

S? y?b?y? bi atoa so

Nimde?-ntraso, nkotokrane ne ap?s?menkomenya

Adi y?n bra mu d?m

Ama y?n asaase ho d? at?m’ s?

1st Stanza

This is our (own) homeland

It is priceless to us

Our forefathers gained it for us at the peril of their lives

It is the turn of you and I

To continue the legacy

Know-it-all behavior, cheating and selfishness

Has maimed our character

And diminished our love for our land

Chorus (2x)

?man no s? ?b?y? yie oo!

?man no s? ?reny? yie oo!

?y? ns?nnah? s?, ?manfo bra na ?kyer?

Chorus (2x)

Whether this nation prospers!

Or it (the nation) doesn’t prosper!

Clearly depends on the character of the citizenry

We must rise up and insist on good citizenship, better leadership and a greater commitment to the national goo.Let’s rise up!

God bless our homeland Ghana, and make our nation great and strong.