Mr Fritz Baffour, Minister of Information (MoI) on Wednesday reiterated the need for staff of the Information Services and Auxiliary Departments to promote peace by disseminating information that would lead Ghanaians to seek the needed peaceful environment.
He said no country developed under situations of chaos and conflicts and added that the peace the country enjoyed was a prerequisite for development.
Mr Baffour who is also the Member of Parliament for Ablekuma South Constituency was addressing staff of the ISD and Ghanaian Times during a visit to Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, as part of his official working tour of the three regions in the north.
The Minister said the visit offered him the opportunity, since his assumption of office, to gather information on the Ministry and to come out with modalities for addressing issues that would emerge after interactions with staff of the Ministry.
He expressed regret that successive governments had not thought through to invest in existing state institutions and called for policies that would enable government to reinvest in restructuring such institutions. He said the MoI was working diligently to promote change in the institutions that are under the Ministry.
During a stopover at the Bolgatanga office of the Ghana News Agency, Mr Baffour observed that the two-storey building had not been renovated since the 1970s when it was built, and assured the staff that the necessary arrangements would be done to repair it. He said his Ministry would equip journalists with the needed tools to do their work effectively.
Mr Nelson Mba, Upper East Regional Director of ISD appealed to the Minister to consider providing the office with logistics to carry out public education which was a major aspect governing the mandate of the ISD.
He said the absence of ISD in communities to deliver information on policies of government and reach out to rural people who had no access to television and radio was undermining their work.
Other challenges the Director mentioned that needed consideration were equipment for the Bawku and Navrongo offices of the ISD, computers and fixed line phones and internet connectivity for all the districts. He also complained about delays of staff promotions and inadequate staffing.
In Navrongo, the Minister and his entourage inspected the ISD office and also paid a courtesy call on the acting Navro Pio, Pe Wekem Arthur Balinia Adda. They had earlier paid a courtesy call on the Bolga Naba, Martin Abilba III.