The National Lottery Authority (NLA) has set records straight on its decision to terminate a lotto draw contract with Ghana Television (GTV).
According to the NLA, the termination was as a result of concerns raised over the quality of production after its new Director-General, Samuel Awuku assumed office.
The services, according to the NLA, were not giving them value for money and Mr Awuku, therefore, had to engage the technical crew to invite their Management for a meeting on the concerns.
“Management of GTV never showed up for any meeting after several invitations through its technical crew neither did engagements with the technical crew yield any result.
“NLA, therefore, decided to terminate the contract in accordance with the provisions of Clause 15.0,11.1a of the Contract between GBC and NLA which enjoins any of the parties with the right of termination,” NLA explained in a statement.
This follows questions raised by media personality, Kwasi Kyei Darkwah, (KKD) on why a private media outfit, United Television (UTV) was chosen over GTV.
But to NLA though it is sympathetic to the state-owned media, they were at the time seeking to grow its audience to increase its revenue base for national development and thus needed to discuss these issues.
“NLA, therefore, took steps to engage another Ghanaian-owned Television Station, United Television which had national coverage and viewership and appealed the most to its target audience. UTV’s contract is for a period of one year from December 2021 to December 2022.
“At the time of engagement with UTV, it was the second highest station with national coverage and viewership according to the 2019 media data research by geopoll.com, a research website that provides remote mobile-based research in Africa, Asia and Latin America,” NLA noted.
The authority explained apart from its national coverage and high viewership, UTV was the television station that simultaneously appealed to NLA’s target audience, particularly Lotto Marketing Companies, Private Lotto Operators, and was willing to give the Authority a similar deal with greater returns.”
Below is the full statement: