The immediate-past Minister of Information, Fatima Abubakar, has shared her views on the ongoing concerns over the removal of the Ministry of Information in President Mahama’s administration.
The legal practitioner stated that the Information Ministry is no different from the new Government Communication office, which has Abura Asebu Kwamankese MP, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, as Minister of State.
She explained that there has only been a change in name and not in functions.
Madam Abubakar made these remarks on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen.
“I will say it has been maintained. It is just renaming. Felix Kwakye Ofosu is at the Presidency as Minister of State in charge of Government Communications, so he has a ministerial portfolio. Nothing has changed,” she said.
“By function and design, if you take the Information Service Department (ISD) to the Presidency, it is as good as leaving it at the Ministry of Information,” she added.
However, the former Minister acknowledged that the concerns of stakeholders are valid, stating that they stem from the innovations introduced during her tenure.
“We had the media capacity enhancement programme as part of the misinformation and disinformation campaign to eradicate the challenges. The government funded the programme, and within three years, we had done three cohorts,” she explained.
President Mahama, as part of a broader strategy to enhance public service delivery and lower government operational costs, has reduced the number of ministries from 30 to 23.
But the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has raised concerns regarding the changes in government structure.
Emphasizing the vital role journalists and the media play in governance, the association now seeks to understand the rationale behind the removal of the Ministry of Information from the President’s list of ministries.
While the first Mahama administration merged the Ministries of Communication and Information, the current administration appears to have completely dissolved the Ministry of Information.
Acknowledging that it would have been beneficial to retain the Information Ministry due to the nuanced nature of media work, Fatima stated that the Mahama-led government may have its own plans.
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