The General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Justin Kodua Frimpong, has advised journalists and media practitioners to make the prevailing peace within the country a priority, ahead of election 2024.
Mr Frimpong emphasised that the media could unmake the nation, and therefore asked practitioners to always sieve their stories and media content in order not to cause tensions, trigger violence and disturb national peace and stability.
He said the NPP cherished media freedom and was ever ready to ensure a violent-free general election, hence the need for the media to remain circumspect in their reportage in order not to create unnecessary tensions in the country.
Mr Frimpong gave the advice when he addressed the Ahafo Media Conference held at Goaso in the Ahafo Region.
A group of media practitioners came together to organise the conference on the theme: “Development of the Ahafo Region: The Role of Media”. The event was attended by 45 journalists and media practitioners in the region.
Mr Frimpong indicated that the NPP was not in any position to do anything that would destabilize the country so as to derail the government’s achievements.
He said the Party strongly believed that its flagbearer, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, could lead the Party to political victory in the next general election because of the exceptional performance and achievements of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s government.
“In fact, whatever the majority of the Ghanaian voting population would say or decide, we are ready to accept, when they go to the ballot,” he stressed.
Touching on the theme for the conference, Mr Frimpong, said it was the responsibility of the media to work hard to deepen national peace and social cohesion, adding that without peace there was no way the country could develop as anticipated.
He said the NPP valued and had a proven track record of enhancing and safeguarding the rights of the media, saying the repealing of the criminal libel law by the former President, John Agyekum Kufuor’s government attested to the Party’s trait of promoting media freedom.
Mr Kodua said the repeal of the criminal libel law had in one way or the other, contributed immensely towards the growth and development of the media, saying “if you have any appreciation to show, then give it to the former President Kufuor and the successive NPP administrations.”
Mr George Yaw Boakye, the Ahafo Regional Minister, highlighted some achievements of the Government, saying majority of the road networks in the region had been reshaped while physical infrastructure development especially in health and education had also been improved.
He commended the media in the region for propagating the numerous social and poverty intervention policies and programmes to the masses, and entreated them to use their space to project the economic potentials of the region.
Mr Boakye said the region had numerous economic prospects that could attract both foreign and local investors, and reminded the media it was their collective responsibility to showcase such potentials locally and internationally.
