President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has congratulated the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) on the successes it has chalked up over the years.

In a tweet congratulating the GCGL, as its flagship newspaper, the Daily Graphic, celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, President Akufo-Addo said the Daily Graphic had largely succeeded in living up to its mantra of “truth and accuracy every day”.

He indicated that the newspaper “has gone through many ups and downs, and it appears to have come out stronger, becoming, undisputedly, our nation’s leading daily newspaper”.

“I extend warm congratulations to the Board of Directors, the management, the Editorial Team and staff of the Daily Graphic on the celebration of its 70th anniversary,” the President’s tweet said.

President’s message

In his message tweeted via his Twitter handle @NAkufoAddo yesterday, President Akufo-Addo said: “Congratulations, once again, to all and sundry associated with the Daily Graphic, including its wide readership. I am confident that, like Mother Ghana, the best days of the Daily Graphic lie ahead.”

Establishment

The GCGL was established in 1950 in the then Gold Coast by the Daily Mirror Group of the United Kingdom, with Mr Cecil King Jnr as the first head of the company.

Its original name was the West African Graphic Company Limited. It was nationalised in 1964 by the Convention People’s Party (CPP) government, led by Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

It published its first edition of the Daily Graphic on October 2, 1950, and followed it up in 1953 with the The Mirror.

Currently, the company has four more publications and a heavy and reliable online presence via www.graphic.com.gh (Graphic Online) and the Graphic New Plus app, which is available on Google Play Store and App Store.

Anniversary launch

As part of a seven-month programme of various activities lined up to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee, which will be climaxed on October 2, 2020, the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, last Monday launched the 70th anniversary, which attracted various high-profile personalities.

In his address at the launch, the Board Chairman of the GCGL, Professor Kwame Karikari, took the opportunity to thank the President for commending the management and the staff of the company for maintaining their independence and freedom from partisanship.

It would be recalled that recently when a delegation from the GCGL, led by the Managing Director, Mr Ato Afful, presented the winners of the Junior Graphic National Essay Competition on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to the President at the Jubilee House in Accra, he similarly commended the Daily Graphic for living up to its constitutional mandate as an independent newspaper.

He said as a state newspaper, the Daily Graphic had projected a very good image for itself through quality service to the public and the country.