5 months ago
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The Minister of Information, Fatimatu Abubakar, on Friday visited the Head Office of the New Times Corporation (NTC), publishers of the Ghanaian Times and The Spectator, in Accra.
She was there to acquaint herself with the work of the state-owned media house, receive a first-hand account of its challenges and discuss possible solutions, as part of a tour of media outlets following her appointment and approval as the sector minister.
Accompanied by some officials from the Ministry, she was received by the NTC Board Members and management team, led by the Board Chairman, Dr Kweku Rockson.
Ms Abubakar said although the government’s second term would end in about six months, the ministry could work with the media houses to address some pressing needs.
On the recapitalisation of the Corporation, she said requests for approval which had expired months ago had been re-submitted to the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), and as soon as the green light was given, formal engagements with the transaction advisor would begin to look for private investment.
Ms Abubakar said the public would be engaged on the listing of the Corporation on the stock exchange after valuation and other important processes had been done, possibly within six weeks depending on the cooperation and support from the Corporation.
She gave the assurance that the Ministry would do its best to ensure that the Corporation got the needed support to overcome its challenges.
She acknowledged the challenges faced by the newspaper industry due to digitalisation and low patronage despite the quality news that comes from the print industry.
She expressed the hope that the injection of new capital into the NTC would help retool the media house and bring diversity into its operations.
On his part, Dr Rockson expressed gratitude to the Minister for the visit and support towards the redress of the challenges of the NTC.
Noting the urgency of the printing machine, he appealed to the Minister to help with the acquisition so the Corporation could live up to expectation.
In his welcome address, the NTC Managing Director, Martin Adu-Owusu, congratulated the minister on her elevation to the substantive minister role.
He outlined the pragmatic steps NTC was taking to maintain relevance in the industry despite the challenges being faced by the Corporation.
This included adopting a three-year strategic plan to achieve set objectives, taking stringent measures to crack barriers, avoid revenue leakage, stop wastage, and ensure prudent expenditure.
Mr Adu-Owusu said the Corporation had paid off a long-standing bank overdraft and stopped using an outdated printing machine that generated poor quality prints and waste.
He said progress had been made in acquiring a new printing machine which had been manufactured, awaiting clearance of some financial obligations.
BY JONATHAN DONKOR
