[ 2012-08-17 ]

GII commends State-Owned Media for fair play
Accra, Aug. 16, GNA – The Ghana Integrity
Initiative (GII) on Thursday commended the
State-owned media for their efforts in meeting the
constitutional requirements for equal and same
access to the media for political parties and
flagbearers.

Presenting a report on: “Abuse of incumbency and
pre-election political corruption in the up-coming
elections,” Mr Vitus A. Azeem, GII Executive
Director, said the document clearly showed that in
some instances, the State-owned media provided
more space and coverage for political parties
other than the National Democratic Congress (NDC),
the ruling party, or its flagbearer.

It said available statistics indicates that Nana
Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the flagbearer of the main
opposition, New Patriotic Party (NPP), recorded
the highest news share of 51 per cent in May and
49 per cent in June.

Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, flagbearer of the Progressive
People's Party (PPP) followed with 22 per cent in
May, and 26 per cent in June; Dr Michael Abu
Sakara Foster, flagbearer of the Convention
People's Party (CPP), recorded 16 per cent in May
and June, and the NDC flagbearer the late
President John Evans Atta Mills, recorded six per
cent in May and five per cent in June.

Mr Azeem announced these at the launch of a report
on Abuse of Incumbency and Pro-Election Political
Corruption in Ghana for May and June, conducted by
GII in collaboration with Ghana Anti-Corruption
Coalition (GACC) and Centre for Democratic
Development (CDD-Ghana), in Accra.

The project is to monitor and expose the extent of
both the occurrence and variety, of abuse of
incumbency and pre-election political corruption
in Ghana, as a tool for promoting clean and fair
elections in December this year.

It is focused on selected 30 constituencies across
the 10 regions of Ghana and also on some
State-owned media.

On space allotment in the State-owned media, the
report stated that Dr Sakara Foster recorded the
highest space of 49 per cent; late President Mills
recorded 22 per cent; Nana Akufo-Addo had 16 per
cent; and Dr Nduom 13 per cent.

In terms of air time, the report revealed that
Ghana Television gave an equal share of 49 per
cent to Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr Nduom in June.

With the print media, the Daily Graphic, Ghanaian
Times, the Spectator and GTV gave the NDC a total
of 41.6 per cent in May and 42.3 per cent in
June.

The NPP was allotted 26 per cent in May and 23 per
cent in June; the PPP received 10.6 per cent in
May and 9.6 per cent in June; and CPP 13 per cent
in May and 7.6 per cent in June.

The report said the Spectator gave the NDC 60 per
cent news share in May and 50 per cent in June;
NPP had 40 per cent in May and 33 per cent in
June; and the PPP 17 per cent in June only.

The Daily Graphic gave 49 per cent to the NDC in
May; 21 per cent to NPP; CPP 12.6 per cent; PPP
9.5 per cent; Peoples National Convention (PNC)
4.7 per cent; Great Consolidated Popular Party
(GCPP) 1.5 per cent; and Independent Popular Party
(IPP) 1.5 per cent.

The Ghanaian Times allotted to the NPP the highest
news share of 48 per cent in May; 36 per cent to
NDC; the CPP 12 per cent; and the PPP four per
cent.

It said GTV in May gave the NDC a total of 31 per
cent; and NPP 18 per cent; and in June NDC
recorded 27 per cent; NPP 20 per cent CPP 13 per
cent and 6.6 per cent each to PPP and PNC.

Mr Azeem explained that the project was to monitor
and expose the extent of both the occurrence and
variety, of abuse of incumbency and pre-election
political party corruption in Ghana, as a tool for
promoting clean and fair elections in Election
2012.

The project was being funded by STAR-Ghana, a
multi- donor pooled funding mechanism (Funded by
DFID, DANIDA, EU and USAID) to increase the
influence of civil society and Parliament in the
governance of public goods and service delivery,
with the ultimate goal of improving the
accountability and responsiveness of Ghana's
government, traditional authorities and the
private sector.

It was launched by Mr Justice Francis Emile Short,
former Commissioner of the Commission on Human
Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) while
Mrs Florence Dennis, GACC Executive Secretary and
Mr Kojo Asante Senior Research Officer of
CDD-Ghana represented their institutions.

Source - GNA

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