Mr. Alban S. K. Bagbin, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, called for strong partnership and alliances between journalists who have specialised on reporting water-related issues in West Africa, to enable them to exchange and share information.
He said: "There is the need for specialised journalists who would keep themselves updated on water issues to enable them to disseminate accurate information with carefulness and sensitivity to water related issues."
Mr. Bagbin made the call when addressing the closing session of a four-day training workshop for about 50 journalists from West Africa, in
Accra on Friday.
It was on the theme: "The contribution of big water infrastructure to the sustainable development of countries in West Africa."
The journalists as part of the training, visited Akosombo Dam to learn at first hand how a dam operates and discussed trans-boundary water issues, climate change and other water related topics.
Mr. Bagbin admitted that the water sector in Ghana faced huge infrastructural challenges and asked the journalists to confront the political leadership in their countries to re-prioritise water issues to ensure that water comes next to air, saying, "stand by the water agenda."
He said that water was a social, commercial and industrial commodity and called on journalists to help change the attitude of end users of water
into a more productive one.
Mrs. Bernadette Sanneh, a Gambian Journalist, told Ghana News Agency that the workshop was timely and very useful.
She said: "I have been hearing about a dam but I have never seen one, this workshop gave me the opportunity to see one physically and learn how it
operates."
Mrs Sanneh, who works with Gambia Radio and Television Services, said the workshop had prepared her mind on how to inform and educate the people
of Gambia about the advantages and disadvantages of building a dam in Gambia since her country was considering building one.