Bolgatanga, Jan. 11, – Reverend Eastwood Anaba, the President of
Eastwood Anaba Ministries (EAM), has called on journalists in the Upper East
Region to facilitate the division of the Northern, Upper East and the Upper
West Regions as separate Regions that require different developmental
approaches.
He said expressions that had been
coined and used by the media so often had become a reality, such as “the three
Regions of the North, the Northern territory, the Upper Regions and the
Northern Regions” does not bring out the distinctions in the three regions.
Rev Anaba who defined journalism
as “a process of growth, advancement and prosperity,” said “the laziness of not
seeing, saying, and doing things exactly as they ought to be seen, said and
done is one of the causes of underdevelopment of the Northern Region, the Upper
East Region and the Upper West Region.”
Reverend Anaba made the call at a
National Media Festival at the instance of The Press Foundation (TPF) held in
Bolgatanga on the theme, “Developing Northern Ghana; the role of the
Journalist”.
The programme attracted
journalists within and outside the Region including Mr Anas Aremeyaw Anas, Mr
Mannaseh Azure Awuni, Mr Listowell Yesu Bukarson, Municipal and District Chief
Executives, opinion leaders and some heads of departments in the Region amidst
heavy security presence.
Reverend Anaba, who is also the
Founder of the Fountain Gate Chapel, said “as long as we continue to look at
these three regions together and not taking the pain to separate them for the
purpose of developing them separately, we are going to be in trouble.” .
He called on the various regions
to depend on their natural resources, and not expect to benefit from natural
resources of other regions, and further suggested that the rocks at Bongo could
be used for granite which would benefit the Region instead of using them as
defecation sites.
Mr Mannaseh Azure Awuni, an
Investigative Journalist with the Multimedia Group of Companies, said with the
resources in Africa, Africans ought not be poor and must not accept that
poverty tag ‘and wait for manna to fall from heaven’.
He implored the media not to only
project the negatives, but to project positive investments and cited the
Fountain Gate Chapel International School and the Akayet Hotel as examples of
good investments that could promote the Region.
Mr Awuni urged politicians and
those in political authority to support courses and initiatives that would
promote investments in the Region, and admonished the youth not to allow their
circumstances to define them.
“When we talk about greatness,
each one of us can be great, you do not need to be rich to be great,” he said.
Mr Rockson Ayine Bukari, the
Upper East Regional Minister, who was the special guest, encouraged media
practitioners to use their platforms to promote the values of respect,
humility, honesty and diligence. “In the past, the northerner was
differentiated by these values which made us the envy of the country and
beyond”.
He assured the media of his
support for their work in line with government’s position adding that “our
government is known for having supervised the expansion of the media front
through the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law among others”.
The programme was chaired by the
Paramount Chief of the Talensi Traditional Area, Tong-Rana, Kugbilsong
Nalebegtang.
GNA
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