ASSIST ISD STAFF TO DELIVER — MINISTER (PAGE 29)

THE Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, has called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to provide the needed assistance to the staff of the Information Service Department (ISD) across the country.
Assistance such as the provision of accommodation, offices and fuel, he said, would enable them to effectively disseminate information on the various government policies, programmes and achievements to the people.
At a meeting with the staff of the ISD and the Municipal and District Chief Executives in the Eastern Region at Koforidua on Monday, Mr Asamoah-Boateng said “it is high time we prioritised information dissemination and management to enable our people to understand and appreciate the various programmes and achievements of the government”.
The minister, who was in the region to interact with the staff of the ISD, the MCEs and the DCEs to know at first-hand challenges facing them, was accompanied by the Government Spokesperson on Social Services, Mr Amponsah Bediako and the acting Director of the ISD, Mr Samuel Amankwa.
The minister said although the government had in the past made every effort to ensure the effective dissemination of accurate and factual information on the various government programmes and achievements, lack of logistics and resources had severely undermined such efforts.
This, he noted, made the various government activities and achievements quite unpopular among the people, making it impossible to motivate and mobilise them to contribute their quota to national development.
To reverse such a trend, Mr Asamoah-Boateng expressed the government’s resolve to strengthen the capacity of the staff of the ISD to undertake their duty more professionally and explain national issues to Ghanaians.
He pointed out that all the districts across the country, except the newly-created ones, had been provided with the necessary equipment such vehicles, laptops and cinema tools to enable the ISD staff to reach all parts of the country.
The minister encouraged the staff to work hard and build good rapport with the people in their respective communities, including opinion leaders, religious bodies, the media and civil society organisations, in order to win their goodwill and support.
He, however, asked them to refrain from engaging in unnecessary political arguments and campaigns for the government, noting that any negative act on their part could adversely compromise their integrity individually and collectively.
“As a topmost priority of my ministry to build a strong teamwork, any individual whose misconduct will undermine our collective resolve to articulate issues of the government will be fired,” Mr Boateng warned, adding that those who would exhibit hard work would also be rewarded.
He entreated them to educate themselves on the various programmes and policies of the government so as to be in a better position to articulate them to the benefit of the mass.
For his part, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Affram Asiedu, pleaded with the ministry to prevail on the various media houses, particularly the private ones, to pay their reporters well to enable them to exhibit more professionalism in the discharge of their duties.
During the open forum, some staff of the ISD appealed to the government to ensure that they had decent accommodation, increased maintenance allowances and training workshops to equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills.