Message from Andrew Edwin Arthur, President of PRINPAG, to members stating why I should be retained as the President in tomorrow’s election.
First of all, I thank the Almighty God for a beautiful day like this and pray this message finds all of us in good health.
We will all recall that, the current leadership of the Association of which I am the President, assumed office in the year 2019, which administration is expected to come to an end with tomorrow’s poll and its subsequent handing over.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Since my election as the President some three years ago, I have served the Association dutifully to the best of my ability and in a selfless manner, and have as a result achieved some appreciable results.
Office Accommodation
First of all, on my assumption of office as the President, it was trite knowledge to us all that, the Association did not have an office and it took me alone as the President, who solicited for support single-handedly and managed to provide the current office premises for the Association.
But beyond the renting of an office accommodation for the Association, I am looking at the bigger picture of the Association owning its own office complex, and to ensure that this materialises, I am currently in contact with the Lands Commission, pleading with its Officials to consider donating a bare land to PRINPAG for that purpose. As a prelude to that desire, I am in the process of renewing talks with the Embassy of Saudi Arabia, that has made a commitment to support us in that regard.
ConstitutionAgain on assumption of office as the President, I realized that, the Association did not have a Constitution and as a student of law at the time, I felt embarrassed by that development and vowed to ensure that, I rallied all executives and members of the Association to ensure that, we give the Association a Constitution.
That vision has materialised as the Association now has a Constitution that serves as its working document.
Data Base
Also as the President, I single handedly championed the building of a credible data base, not only for Publishers and Online News Portal Owners, but also for all those who work with them.
This, I view as important for planning purposes and has gone a long way to enable the Executive Committee and the PRINPAG Secretariat have a holistic, clear and complete picture of all our members countrywide.
Now with the development of this data base, we are able to ensure that, no media practitioner working with any PRINPAG member is left out of our training programmes, because we have successfully captured everybody in our data.
This can be verified from the Secretariat while its benefits can also be verified from our members countrywide as that data base helped immensely in getting PRINPAG members actively involved in the recent Covid-19 training programmes across the country as well as the Media Capacity Enhancement Training Programme held in Kumasi in January 2022.
Capacity Building Workshops
I am happy to indicate once again to all of us that, as the President, I again single-handedly moved around from institution to institution in search of training programmes for the Association and thankfully, I succeeded in securing some training programmes that were sponsored by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) under the former Commissioner General Mr. Kofi Nti as well as the current Commissioner General, Mr. Amishadai Owusu Amoah.
I am happy to announce that, only last week Monday, I visited the Commissioner General, who has agreed to revive two workshops for the Association, which the workshops the Authority had approved through my passionate appeals to GRA to help train us on issues relating to the E-Levy.
The two workshops are now going to be held on a myriad of issues and problems, which the Authority wants Ghanaians to be educated about.
I am very passionate about training programmes and so long as I remain the President, it will be one of my priorities in that, it helps to educate us on the changing trends in the practice of our chosen profession and gives our news outlets new leases of life should we incorporate our newly acquired knowledge in their production.
But going forward, my attention will be focused on specialization, which seems to be the new trend in modern day journalism practice.
Business Promotion of Newspapers and Online News Portals
In view of my burning desire to also look for ways of improving the business aspects of our various establishments, I also single-handedly initiated discussions with the CEO of COA-GPM, who has agreed to sign an MOU with the Association, which partnership arrangement will benefit all members without discrimination.
The MOU will soon be signed by the two bodies, PRINPAG and COA-GPM.Distribution of AdvertsI have personally and again single-handedly approached the NPA, NLA and the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources to consider involving the executives of PRINPAG in the placement of adverts and the response has been very encouraging.
I am expected to follow up to seal the discussions to enable all members benefit from advert placements as I did in the case of adverts from the EXIMBANK, which benefitted us all without discrimination.
Scholarships/ FellowshipsDuring the first term in office, my focus was on putting in place the right structures to enable the Association function, but in my second term, if I am given the approval, will focus of securing scholarships and Fellowship programmes for members to build their professional capacity and to also enhance their knowledge.
PRINPAG President as a LAWYER
I am happy to hear comments from some members of the general public and our allied partners who say my second profession as a Lawyer has brought enhanced credibility to the Association.
But beyond that, in view of my position as the President, I feel obliged to always use my legal knowledge to support members and I can disclose that, currently, I am defending two of our members for free or as we Lawyers call pro bono.
The two members are on our general platform and can attest to this fact, but the two instances are cases that, I could have charged a total of GHC 80,000, but I am doing it for them for free, because being a journalist of 27 years standing, I know that, our profession is no more economically endowed, so to turn my back to my colleagues, will mean perhaps they losing their respective cases with its attendant consequences, because they could not pay their legal fees.
Fellow PRINPAG members, I have the burning desire to continue to support my brothers and sisters with my legal knowledge so long as my strength will allow me.
Political Divide
That members of PRINPAG are divided on political lines, is not in doubt but it is my desire to ensure that, we minimize this, if not completely eliminated among members, to ensure that, there is cohesion and harmony among us.
It is also my desire to see the Association being built on professional lines than on partisanship that always create a wedge between us and divide our ranks.
I know this is going to be a difficult task but I know that, we can collectively achieve it and make our Association stand out with our collective efforts.
This is critical, because it is destroying our beautiful Association and on top of it all, it accounts for the polarization and the downward trend in the growth and development of Ghana’s media today.
It is for these and other reasons that, I am appealing to you all, especially the delegates in tomorrow’s election, to vote massively for Andrew Edwin Arthur, the number one on the presidential ballot paper, to retain my position as the President to continue to serve you better with the help and support of the other executive members.
VOTE EDWIN FOR CREDIBLE AND TRANSPARENT LEADERSHIP
VOTE EDWIN FOR AN ALL INCLUSIVE AND DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP
Long Live PRINPAG!
Long Live Journalism Practice in Ghana!!
