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MPEC in partnership with MRGA hold awards in Accra
The Media Platform on Environment and Climate Change (MPEC) and the Minority Rights Group Africa (MRGA) on Tuesday held the second edition of the Inclusive & Anti Conflict Journalism Awards in Accra.
The ceremony held on the theme “Deepening quality and ethical journalism to address conflict and minority exclusion” was organised under the engaging media and minorities to act for peace-building which is a multi-country project by the European Union (EU).
This year’s awards scheme received about 41 applications as compared to 30 applications from last year. Out of these applications six finalists were honoured.
At the end of the occasion Fugu Mohammed, the Northern Regional Correspondent of the Daily Graphic emerged as the overall best reporter.
Other awardees under the print and online/wire and TV categories included Anthony Adongo Apubeo of GNA, Timothy Ngnenbe (Daily Graphic), Emmanuel Bright Quaicoe (Multi Media), Mona Lisa Frimpong (Multi Media) and Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen of Apexnews.
In her welcome address, the Executive Director of MPEC, Mary Ama Kudom-Agyemang charged journalists to keep playing their role through public education on climate change, conflict and minority issues.
“We, as media, should play our part and highlight these issues very well and educate the public to make responsible decisions on these,” she said.
She said the award was to motivate and incentivised journalists to pay closer attention to issues of conflicts, migration, climate change and minority exclusion hence expressing gratitude to all journalists who heeded their call to participate in the awards and commended the awardees for their exceptional reportage.
Mr Affail Monney, a former president of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) who chaired the occasion, also urged the winners to be more persistent in their advocacy of minorities.
He charged journalists to practise journalism in an innovative way that de-escalates dialogue and peaceful outcomes, but not in a way that escalates conflict through bias and sensationalism.
Mr Monney admonished traditional media to ensure that news and information consumption becomes part of the solution.
“Journalists must be more inclusive in their reportage and pay closer attention to issues that adversely affect our development and well-being” Mr Monney stated.
The Secretary of the Ghana Journalists Association, Mr Kofi Yeboah for his part commended MPEC and its partners for organizing such an award to honour journalists of their good works and entreated journalists to continue to work hard to build and sustain public confidence in the media.
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
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BY MALIK SULLEMANA
